McMaster urges compliance with COVID-19 guidance, but won’t reinstate restrictions
Gov. Henry McMaster said he would not reinstate any of the recently-lifted COVID-19-related restrictions on restaurants and bars in response to the throngs of young people who packed the sidewalks outside drinking establishments in Five Points last weekend.
“It’s not a question of more restrictions, it’s just a question of people following those that they know exist now and following the rules that have been — or the recommendations — that have been broadcast, discussed, explained ad infinitum since March,” he said after a bill signing Wednesday.
McMaster encouraged everyone to take the novel coronavirus seriously, but said he would not allow the disease to shut down the state and inflict the sort of economic, as well as mental and emotional, toll he said it has taken in other parts of the country where more stringent restrictions have been imposed.
“We must be open for business,” he said. “There’s a way to navigate this virus, but we must be open for business. South Carolina has never closed. We slowed down, but we have not stopped.”
Earlier this month, McMaster issued an executive order that not only lifted capacity restrictions on restaurants and bars, but also eased requirements on spacing between tables, seating limitations per table and spacing for people waiting to be seated. McMaster had put those limitations in place in May, after indoor dining, which had been restricted since March, was allowed to resume.
Columbia officials have said the city has been somewhat hamstrung by McMaster’s recent order and have been looking for ways to enhance enforcement of social distancing measures while not exceeding the order’s limits.
City Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine told the State earlier this week that because the city cannot go beyond the limits of the governor’s order, there’s not much it can do to prevent the sorts of scenes observed in Five Points on Saturday after University of South Carolina’s upset win over Auburn.
Devine elaborated Thursday that while Columbia may take action on issues the governor has not formally weighed in on, once he acts on an issue, like capacity restrictions, his order takes precedence.
“The legal opinion we’ve gotten is that we are not able to counter his order,” she said.
McMaster said Wednesday that city officials have the authority to enforce the ongoing statewide prohibition on alcohol being served or consumed after 11 p.m., which he said had been “very effective,” and encouraged them to tackle other issues that arise at the local level.
“It’s more effective to have the cities and counties having their own regulations, their own restrictions because they know their customers, they know their businesses, they know their weather and they know what to do best,” the governor said.
The Columbia City Council on Tuesday discussed hiking penalties for violations of its face mask ordinance, but is not expected to take action on the matter or any other additional COVID-19-related safety measures until its November meeting, Devine said.
To this point, the city has leaned heavily on educating residents and encouraging compliance with safety measures, but has tried not to be overly punitive, she said.
However, as the weather cools and COVID-19 cases are likely to increase, Devine said it may be time to ramp up enforcement, while still respecting people’s ability to enjoy a night out on the town.
She said she believed the city should have the latitude to impose safe spacing requirements, both inside and outside of bars and restaurants, but that enforcement is difficult.
The city has chosen not to use police to enforce its mask ordinance and other COVID-19-related safety measures, opting instead to rely on fire marshals and code enforcement officers to deal with violators.
As a result, it’s simply not been feasible to enforce social distancing on the street outside crowded bars, Devine said.
The prior restaurant and bar capacity restrictions had eased some of the burden because they prevented large groups of people from mobbing the street outside establishments as they waited to get in and allowed patrons inside those establishments to keep a safe distance from one another.
As outdoor seating becomes limited in the late fall and winter, Devine said she’s worried that people, unconstrained by capacity restrictions, will crowd shoulder-to-shoulder inside bars and potentially spread the virus.
She said she was considering reaching out to the governor’s office to discuss whether there was a way to create a carve out in his order for Columbia, or cities like it.
Devine said she understood that capacity restrictions may not be necessary in some parts of the state and that a blanket restriction on capacity could hurt businesses elsewhere, but that Columbia, with its large student and young adult population, could benefit from having more flexibility in that regard.
“When you do something statewide, you have to understand that sometimes you preempt Columbia from doing something that may work for us,” she said. “We have unique challenges and may need some more tools.”
Both Devine and McMaster stressed the need for all people, especially young people, to comply with the coronavirus-related prohibitions that are in place.
“We’re calling on, particularly the younger people, to be very careful,” McMaster said Wednesday. “There’s no way to have a police officer at every corner, at every place in every city to force people to comply. They’re going to have to do it because they need to do it for the benefit of the entire state.”
He advised continued education about the virus and encouraged South Carolinians to band together and step up their compliance with the existing safety requirements, but said he did not envision reinstating the capacity restrictions, even if the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths associated with the disease continue to climb.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Wednesday reported 686 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths.
“The neighbors need to talk to the neighbors, friends need to talk to friends and we’re all in this together,” he said. “And until a vaccine is freely available, we will have to continue doing what we’re doing.”
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 1:38 PM.