McMaster reverses course, tells DHEC to delay releasing plan for nursing home visitors
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster reversed course on Thursday after initially directing the state’s health agency to come up with guidelines to let immediate families visit their loved ones in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
In a tweet, McMaster said that he told the state’s Department of Health and Enviromental Control to postpone releasing those guidelines as the state reports a surge in COVID-19 cases.
McMaster said in a series of tweets that he understood it was a “a heartbreaking situation for loved ones, but the rising rate of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations leaves us no choice.”
The governor did not specify whether there is a new timeline for the guidelines to eventually be released and visitation allowed.
Last Friday, McMaster said that while the statewide ban of visits had been effective in reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus, it had taken a toll in other ways.
“Not having people going into the nursing homes of course has reduced the spread, we believe,” the governor said. “But it has also increased the feeling of isolation, the mental, emotional strain and other problems. The isolation does that, the domestic violence, the alcoholism. I haven’t seen this suicide rates lately, but all of this kind of isolation does cause those sorts of unintended consequences.”
Then, DHEC’s acting director Marshall Taylor said the agency would take a phased approach that would first allow outdoor visits before eventually permitting indoor visitation.
The state’s nursing homes and assisted living facilities have reported some of the largest virus outbreaks since the state first logged positive cases in March. In May, data released by the state’s health department showed nursing home residents made up over a third of the state’s total coronavirus-related deaths, despite only accounting for nearly 12% of positive cases.
Since Memorial Day weekend, the state has seen a significant rise in positive cases, including the number of tests returning positive and the rate of hospitalizations. On the last day of June, a record 1,741 new coronavirus were reported. There have been more than 1,000 cases reported each day for the past nine days.
Thursday also marked a new record for COVID-19 hospitalizations at 1,125.
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 5:26 PM.
