SC areas that adopted mask ordinances first see biggest COVID-19 declines
South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control has released data before touting declines in coronavirus cases in areas where local governments have required residents to wear face masks. Now, the agency is saying that the earlier such ordinances were implemented, the better.
In its daily COVID-19 update Friday, DHEC broke down the 11 counties and 61 cities and towns where masks are currently required, splitting them into five groups according to the weeks that they implemented their mask ordinances.
In the earliest group, between June 23 and 29, cases decreased 66.5% more over the following month than in areas without ordinances. The latest group to implement ordinances, in the week of July 21-27, recorded no greater decrease in cases than those without them, DHEC reported.
The five groups broke down as follows:
- Week of June 23-June 29: 66.5% greater decrease
- Week of June 30-July 6: 39.2% greater decrease
- Week of July 7-July 13: 6.1% greater decrease
- Week of July 14-July 20: 3.5% greater decrease
- Week of July 21-July 27: no greater percent decrease
Two of South Carolina’s biggest cities — Greenville and Columbia — were among those in the first week to implement mask ordinances. The city of Charleston followed soon after, implementing its ordinance on July 1.
Gov. Henry McMaster has consistently declined to implement a statewide mask order, saying throughout late June and early July it would go against personal liberties and be difficult to enforce. He has urged residents to wear masks, encouraged counties, cities and towns to consider passing their own ordinances and mandated that they be worn inside restaurants. But he has not joined more than 30 other states requiring masks in public.
DHEC has recorded more than 130,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Carolina — roughly 2.5% of the population. More than 3,000 residents have died after testing positive for the virus since March.
Health experts, including DHEC’s state epidemiologist Linda Bell, have said for months now that wearing a mask helps reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.
