What’s radical? Letting SC residents die from COVID when masks, vaccines are available
Some try to minimize the number of COVID-19 deaths. It’s only this percent or that percent of the population, they will say.
Certainly their math isn’t wrong.
In Horry County, South Carolina, for instance, 627 people have died due to COVID-19 as of Aug. 16. That’s less than 1% of the county’s 354,000 residents.
Does that statistic comfort you?
Does it erase the sadness and loss felt among their families, friends, co-workers and neighbors?
Horry County’s school board knows that loss all too well. In the span of eight months, two of its board members have died as a result of COVID-19.
That’s two of 12 board members. For those keeping track, that equates to 16.67% of the board.
Board chairman Ken Richardson described John Poston as a friend with a passion for improving the lives of the county’s children.
Poston was 52 and died several weeks after being hospitalized with COVID-19.
At the first board meeting after Poston’s death, an “In Memoriam” banner and flowers rested at Poston’s seat.
“Someone else will take that seat,” Richardson said at the time.. “But no one will ever replace him.”
That was early in 2021.
Now, the school board’s website hosts a tribute to another member, Ray Winters, who died this month of complications related to COVID-19.
Winters was on a ventilator with the virus, and his family joined Congressman Tom Rice in asking for prayers.
“Mr. Winters was a dedicated public servant and deeply committed to the betterment of Horry County Schools and his community. He was a tireless advocate for public education, and we will celebrate his life and be thankful for his contributions and support of our students, their families, and our staff,” the district website reads.
Students in the district’s 56 schools are back in the classroom.
They will not be required to wear masks, per a poorly-considered requirement inserted in the state budget. The plexiglass dividers that once separated them are gone.
But the school website notes the situation can change. “The evolving nature of COVID-19 and potential changes in the law may impact protocols and procedures,” it explains.
The question is what has to change to convince enough people that COVID-19 is and has been a threat since the first confirmed case was reported in the United States in January 2020?
Town after town, school board after school board is faced with what seems like an obvious mandate - save lives.
Yet, somehow many are willing to accept a few deaths here and there - 621,344 deaths in the U.S. and counting - because masks are a little uncomfortable or they don’t trust a vaccine despite the science and research behind it.
The Palmetto State has the distinction of being one of the states targeted by federal education officials for its failure to take every step to protect the lives of our children.
“South Carolina’s actions to block school districts from voluntarily adopting science-based strategies for preventing the spread of COVID-19 that are aligned with the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) puts these goals at risk and may infringe upon a school district’s authority to adopt policies to protect students and educators as they develop their safe return to in-person instruction plans required by federal law,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona wrote in a letter to Gov. Henry McMaster.
McMaster’s response, via his spokesman, was that the governor will “continue to push back and fight against President Biden and the Democrats’ radical liberal agenda.”
Meanwhile, several of the state’s school districts are fighting the good fight, imposing mask mandates despite the risk of losing funding.
They know that saving lives, regardless of the statistics, matters. Gov. McMaster should know it, too.
Nothing radical about that.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 12:30 PM with the headline "What’s radical? Letting SC residents die from COVID when masks, vaccines are available."