Columbia will be back under a coronavirus curfew at 11 p.m. Friday
Just days after a statewide order was issued by Gov. Henry McMaster requiring residents to stay home, the city of Columbia is going back under a curfew.
City council unanimously approved the proposal on Thursday to reimpose another overnight curfew beginning at 11 p.m. Friday.
The curfew gives Columbia police the power to stop people who are out and about between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and potentially fine and arrest them. The order is meant to increase social distancing and hopefully stop the spread of the coronavirus in what has been the hardest hit county in the state.
Columbia previously had a curfew in March, shortly after a state of emergency was declared in South Carolina.
But that was before a stay home order was implemented throughout the city on March 29, which superseded the curfew. Then Gov. Henry McMaster issued his own statewide “work or home” order on Monday.
The governor’s order already requires S.C. residents to stay home unless they’re working in an essential service or have an essential reason to go out of the house. But Mayor Steve Benjamin says a renewed curfew is needed to emphasize the importance of staying home.
“If everything works perfectly in the governor’s order, then philosophically there would be no need” for a new curfew, Benjamin said. “The governor’s order is only going to be as effective as our enforcement.”
Benjamin said he’s concerned about how tightly the order will be enforced statewide, saying he’s heard of some non-essential businesses being granted exemptions to an order that would otherwise require them to close.
“It’s hard to justify how a vape shop counts as an essential business,” Benjamin said at Thursday’s council meeting.
City Councilman Daniel Rickenmann said he has heard from police that officers are still dealing with “custodial issues” — young people under 18 being out late — despite the escalating lockdown.
“But you could still say ‘I’m going to get something to eat,’ or ‘I’m going somewhere,’” Rickenmann said. A new curfew would allow police more powers to send people home.
As with the previous curfew, people will be allowed to move around for late-night work shifts, as well as for health treatments.
The curfew will be in effect for 60 days, or until it is repealed.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 12:42 PM.
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