SC Gov. McMaster signs $45M aid package to slow coronavirus after House OKs bill
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed legislation on Thursday that will offer the state’s health agency overseeing the coronavirus spread in the Palmetto State $45 million after the S.C. House returned to Columbia on its week off to adopt legislation sending the aid.
The House voted 121-0 on Thursday, two days after the Senate unanimously adopted the same bill, sending the surplus dollars to the Executive Budget Office from which the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control can pull from and spend on needs.
Speaking to reporters after the governor signed the legislation, House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, acknowledged more money may be needed to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
“Given the spread of the disease as we’ve seen it, probably not,” Lucas said. “We know we’ve got $9 million from the federal government, there are Health and Human Services reserves … that we can make available. There’s going to have to be more money that we’re going to have to put toward this crisis.”
After the vote, Lucas said it’s his intent not to call members back to Columbia for at least two weeks.
“But I anticipate it’ll be longer than two weeks,” Lucas said.
Senate President Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, notified senators on Thursday they would not hold session next week.
Now 81 people in 17 counties have tested positive for COVID-19, the majority of those cases — 29 — are in Kershaw County, health officials reported on Thursday.
The legislation also loosens the state’s current restrictions on how much retired DHEC employees can earn should they return to work and allows the agency to move supplies and employees from one hospital or medical provider to another depending on the demand.
Earlier this week, DHEC director Rick Toomey told senators the money would spread about six months.
Asked whether that was enough, Toomey said, “I cannot commit that’s going to solve the problem.”
House members took extra steps on Thursday to keep themselves protected from the virus, and staff roped off stairs and elevators to the chambers to only allow legislators, staff and reporters. On any given day, the State House lobby is typically busy.
Some House members sat in the gallery above the floor, normally used by observers, to display social distancing from their colleagues.
Some took precautions a step further.
State Rep. Patricia Henegan, D-Marlboro, wore a mask, while Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Berkeley, covered her hands in black gloves.
So far, no South Carolina lawmaker has reported they have contracted the virus. But outside the state, others have.
U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-FL, and U.S. Rep Ben McAdas, D-Utah, reported they have tested positive for coronavirus and are self-quarantining. And in Georgia, a state legislator tested positive on Monday, prompting the state’s 236 lawmakers to self-quarantine.
How DHEC plans to spend the money:
▪ $14.8 million, on personal protective equipment for health care workers;
▪ $14.5 million, to cover additional staffing to help with disease surveillance and investigation, lab testing and information phone lines;
▪ $5.2 million, to cover technology, lab supplies, travel and cleaning costs;
▪ $5 million, on unanticipated costs based on the spread of COVID-19;
▪ $2.5 million, on an education campaign through television and radio ads and printed materials;
▪ $1.7 million, to cover the costs to quarantine and support indigent patients; and
▪ $1.3 million, to cover costs for lab samples and distribution of items from the Strategic National Stockpile.
This story has been corrected to reflect the members of Congress who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 2:12 PM.
