Charleston stops short of school mask mandate, but other COVID protocols are coming
Charleston city officials won’t require children to wear face masks in schools, but adults should prepare for an immediate return to masking inside city government buildings and facilities, as well as when visiting some city-run tourist attractions.
Since May, the Holy City has been open to visitors and residents without any recognizable signs of pandemic precautions, such a face mask requirements or reduced occupancy requirements.
But due to accelerating coronavirus cases in the Charleston area, which are spiking in large part due to the fast-spreading delta variant, the city of Charleston announced Tuesday it will now take a step back to phase three of its reopening plan.
The face covering requirement inside city buildings will go into effect on Wednesday, the city said.
The step backward also has ramifications for visitors who plan to check out city-run tourist sites like the Angel Oak on Johns Island, or the Old Exchange Building and the Old Slave Mart Museum on the downtown peninsula.
Visitors to those sites will now have to wear masks and they will not be able to pick up printed materials like maps, guides and brochures.
The decision to reinstate the city-wide safety measures was made after consultation with the city’s COVID-19 Task Force, the mayor’s office said Tuesday evening.
The announcement came exactly three months after Mayor John Tecklenburg declared Charleston could move forward to phase four, referred to even in city documents as “the new normal.”
It would prove to last about as long as summer break.
Last week, experts and the Medical University of South Carolina characterized the region as being a “code red situation” with the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the surge in cases is occurring as students in Charleston prepare to return to the classroom next week.
Vaccines protect against serious illness or death, but do not completely prevent infection. However, no vaccine has been authorized for children under 12.
Columbia City Council last week passed an emergency measure requiring students and faculty at 43 elementary and middle schools and day cares in the city to wear masks.
That came despite a law written into the state budget last year that prevents schools from spending state funds on mask mandates.
On Tuesday, Republican South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson sent a letter to Columbia City Council, saying he believes the city’s ordinance requiring masks in elementary and middle schools runs counter to state law.
But Charleston City Council is expected to pass a resolution of its own that addresses masking in schools during an emergency meeting Wednesday.
The resolution will encourage masking for children over the age of 2 and under 12 while they are either in school, indoors, or in crowds of ten or more within city limits.
The resolution would also strongly encourage and recommend that city residents and visitors wear a mask indoors, and urges City of Charleston residents and those visiting Charleston to get vaccinated.
The meeting will be live-streamed on the city’s YouTube channel.
About 45% of eligible South Carolina residents were fully vaccinated by the end of July, according to publicly available data from the state health department.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 5:47 PM.
