Where does Columbia’s new mask rule apply?

For much of the past year, Columbia residents have been under a citywide mask ordinance. While that ordinance is now gone, the city council this week approved a new emergency mask rule.

But that doesn’t mean you will face a fine if you walk into a Main Street business without a face covering.

The city’s latest mask mandate, approved by a 5-1 vote of Columbia City Council during an emergency meeting Thursday, is more targeted than the former rule. It specifically applies to elementary and middle schools in the city limits, and to day cares that serve children between the ages of 2 and 14.

The city released a list of 43 schools inside the city limits that will fall under the new mask mandate.

Mayor Steve Benjamin has said the intent of the new mandate is to stop the spread of the coronavirus among younger people who can’t get the COVID-19 vaccine, especially the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

High schools are excluded from the mask mandate because the vaccine is available to anyone aged 12 and up. Masks also won’t be enforced in businesses and offices in the capital city, or in crowded social scenes were social distancing is difficult. Those situations did fall under the city’s previous mask enforcement, which was in force from last summer until this past May, when Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order quashing local mask rules across the state.

But Benjamin argues the city retains its emergency powers to respond to threats to public health through measures like a targeted mask mandate. He also argues a city-enforced measure gets around a state budget proviso that prohibits school districts from enforcing a mask mandate.

While the widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines is credited with a decline in new cases this year, new strains like the delta variant continue to circulate among the unvaccinated. South Carolina is one of the least vaccinated states in the country, with around 50% of the population having received a jab. The federal Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention recently changed its recommendations on masks so that even the vaccinated are now encouraged to wear masks in certain situations, since they could still spread the virus even if they are resistant to its symptoms.

This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 10:16 AM.

Bristow Marchant

The State

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Bristow Marchant covers local government, schools and community in Lexington County for The State. He graduated from the College of Charleston in 2007. He has almost 20 years of experience covering South Carolina at the Clinton Chronicle, Sumter Item and Rock Hill Herald. He joined The State in 2016. Bristow has won numerous awards, most recently the S.C. Press Association’s 2024 education reporting award.  Support my work with a digital subscription