Richland County issues emergency school mask order. Here’s what it means

Students at elementary and middle schools in most of Richland County will be required to wear masks in schools when they head back to class later this week, after the county council voted to adopt a countywide mask mandate for schools at a special meeting on Monday.

Richland County joins the city of Columbia in passing a mask ordinance despite the opposition of some state lawmakers as well as South Carolina’s attorney general.

Under Richland County’s new ordinance, all public and private schools as well as day cares in the unincorporated parts of the county would be required to mask students, faculty and staff if they serve children between the ages of 2 and 14.

The new rule is targeted at those too young to be vaccinated against COVID-19, who could nevertheless contract and spread the virus. It applies to schools in the unincorporated parts of the county, a county spokesperson said Monday.

The county council passed the motion in a specially-called meeting Monday ahead of the start of school for most county students this week. It was approved in a 9-1 vote, with Councilman Bill Malinowski casting the lone vote against.

Malinowski told The State after the vote that he didn’t believe the county had the data to say an emergency existed in schools before fall classes had even begin. He also said a mask mandate could lead some parents to pull their children out of school.

“I don’t really think this will have much effect,” Malinowski said of the mandate. “My reason for voting against this is that it’s more government control. The government is taking more control where there should be parental guidance. If a parent doesn’t want their child to wear a mask, they shouldn’t be required by the government.”

He compared the mandate to a ban on smoking in public places, which Malinowski also opposes. “If you don’t want to be around smoke, don’t go to that restaurant,” he said.

Together with the Columbia ordinance, the new county mask order will cover most schools in South Carolina’s second most populous county. Violators face a $100 fine, which would be directed to the school administrator. Private establishments also risk losing their licenses for repeated violations, the emergency ordinance says.

South Carolina has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases because of the rise of the highly-contagious delta variant, largely among those who have not yet been vaccinated against the disease. South Carolina has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with around half the state’s eligible population receiving at least one dose, and 45.5% fully vaccinated.

The spike nationally led the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention to reverse its previous guidance on masks, recommending that even vaccinated individuals should wear masks indoors to halt the spread of the coronavirus. Last week, Pickens County schools reverted to all-virtual instruction because of an outbreak among the student body.

Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin declared a state of emergency in the capital city on Aug. 4, and the next day, the city council approved Benjamin’s emergency order requiring more than 40 public and private schools as well as day cares within the city to mask students, teachers and staff if they serve children between the ages of 2 and 14.

That decision got immediate pushback from Republican state leaders who have actively opposed mask mandates. Both S.C. House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, and Senate President Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, said Columbia’s mask mandate was a “deliberate violation” of state law. The Legislature’s 2021-22 budget includes a one-year proviso that prohibits school districts from using state funds to enforce mask requirements. S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson has written to the city telling Columbia leaders the mask mandate is against the law, and threatened legal action against the city.

City leaders disagree, arguing the city has the right to issue a mask mandate using emergency local powers in response to the continuing spread of COVID-19, and that the budget proviso limits school districts, not the city.

The Richland 1 and Richland 2 school boards met Monday to consider their responses to the rise in coronavirus cases, with Richland 1 deciding to enforce its own mask mandate in schools. Lexington-Richland 5 said the district covering the northwestern portion of Richland County would not enforce a mask mandate this year, partly to avoid enforcing different rules in its Richland and Lexington schools and partly to stay in line with state law.

The Palmetto State Teachers Association issued a statement on Monday calling on Gov. Henry McMaster to suspend the budget proviso and allow individual school districts to decide about whether to require masks. McMaster’s office said he did not have the power to suspend a part of the legislatively-approved budget, and that the governor does not support dropping the masking ban.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education said that federal funds could be used to get around a similar state-level ban on schools requiring masks in Florida.

This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 6:19 PM.

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