Columbia City Council extends face mask ordinance into November
Columbia residents will have to keep their face masks on past Halloween at the very least, as the city council voted Tuesday to extend its emergency ordinance requiring facial coverings to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
The ordinance, which would have expired Oct. 4 but will now extend until Nov. 15, requires facial coverings to be worn in or waiting outside buildings open to the public, inside businesses, interacting with other members of the public in outdoor spaces, utilizing public or private transportation or in situations when social distancing is not possible.
The council voted unanimously to extend the ordinance after initially passing it in June and then extending it in early August. It applies to all residents 10 years or older and defines a face mask as “at least a simple cloth face covering,” ranging from surgical masks, N95 respirators, face shields or bandannas, as long as it covers both the mouth and nose and does not have any holes.
Columbia was one of the first municipalities in South Carolina to implement a mask ordinance to combat COVID-19. The South Carolina Emergency Management Division reports that 11 counties, including Columbia’s Richland County, and 61 local governments currently require face masks while in public.
In those areas, the Department of Health and Environmental Control has reported a lower rate of virus activity when compared to those without mask requirements. Gov. Henry McMaster has urged local governments to implement mask ordinances but declined to issue one himself.
But despite its mask ordinance, Columbia and Richland County did see a recent surge in coronavirus cases, as students from the University of South Carolina returned to campus for the fall semester — more than 2,000 cases have been reported among students. USC President Bob Caslen was originally scheduled to give an update to the council on Tuesday, but his appearance was pushed to the next meeting due to a scheduling conflict.
“We’ve seen obviously a positive impact from our masking ordinance, but we’ve seen some upward pressure from the students returning back. We’re finding obviously some pretty good compliance and partnerships emerging. ... We all know as soon as we get our arms around the public health threat, we can get our arms around the economic challenges and then the educational challenges that children face, so looking forward to that,” Mayor Steve Benjamin said.
The city council also extended other ordinances suspending the normal operating procedures of the council and other city board and commission meetings. That has allowed the council to meet virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. While this new ordinance extends that another 60 days, Benjamin said the council will continue to meet virtually “for the foreseeable future.”
At the same time, Columbia’s municipal court, which has been closed for months due to the pandemic, is reopening this week, city emergency management director Harry Tinsley said. There will be safety procedures in place to curb the spread of the virus, including temperature checks at the door.
Tinsley also said the city is working with Prisma Health to potentially open a new testing site should the COVID-19 testing site on Lee Street be closed.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 4:26 PM.
