Over 2,000 at party during USC football game ignored social distancing, officials say
A party with “at least a couple thousand people” in attendance at a Columbia apartment complex during Saturday’s University of South Carolina football game had to be broken up, the Columbia Fire Department said.
They were at the Orchard during the Gamecocks’ afternoon game, fire department spokesman Mike DeSumma told The State on Sunday.
And most of them were violating social distancing mandates in place to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, according to the fire department.
DeSumma said most of the people gathered at the rental complex, whose website says it’s “designed with students in mind,” were not wearing masks or face coverings, violating Richland County’s mask ordinance in addition to Gov. Henry McMaster’s executive order about social distancing.
Additionally, when members of the fire department arrived to the Orchard after getting a call about a medical emergency, some people in the massive crowd threw bottles at the first responders, according to DeSumma.
“There were so many people there that our responders had trouble getting in,” DeSumma said of the emergency call. “If we had come out for a fire or an emergency situation it would have been impossible to get in.”
Information about the medical call, and the person’s condition were not available.
The fire department had to call the party an imminent danger in order to break up the crowd, according to DeSumma. The Richland County Sheriff’s Department and University of South Carolina Police Department assisted the fire department in dispersing the crowd, DeSumma said.
The medical call came around halftime of the football game that kicked off at noon, and DeSumma said the crowd was gone before the end of the Gamecocks’ victory over Auburn.
No arrests or citations
Without saying the party goers were USC students, DeSumma said most of the people pictured in the crowd were young adults.
On the homepage of the Orchard’s website, it says the rental complex “offers luxury college living less than one mile to USC’s Campus ... built especially for today’s college student offer you the chance to enjoy your experience at The University of South Carolina.”
The people who threw the bottles were not identified as they were able to disappear into the crowd and no arrests were made, DeSumma said.
No citations were issued to individuals at the party, according to DeSumma. But not wearing a mask is a civil infraction with a fine up to $25, and businesses face a $100 penalty, according to the Richland County ordinance.
The owner of the Orchard, College Town Properties, could face more severe consequences.
Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins plans to meet with Orchard management on Monday to discuss what happened, and to get them involved in ensuring it does not occur again, DeSumma said.
Messages left with management at the Orchard were not immediately returned.
DeSumma said many of the rental properties in the city that have been cited have done a good job of ensuring there is not a repeat violation.
He used the August incident at the Apartments at Palmetto Compress as an example. In that incident, the fire department broke up a party where a couple hundred people crowded in and around the pool and on top of a pool house deck, that Jenkins said looked “almost like Mardi Gras.”
“We’ve done a lot of outreach to try and get the students to do the right thing,” USC spokesman Jeff Stensland told The State after the Palmetto Compress incident.
While the Columbia Police Department has reported breaking up large gatherings in September and October, since the pool party, there hasn’t been another incident of that magnitude at Palmetto Compress, according to DeSumma.
“We want to warn people,” DeSumma said. “We want to work with them to make sure it doesn’t happen again and there are no repeat offenders.”
During the Gamecocks’ first home game of the season at Williams-Brice Stadium, hundreds of people violated COVID-19 social distancing mandates when they gathered in several Columbia residences during and after that game, police said.
Most of those large gatherings and loud parties occurred in properties and neighborhoods popular with USC students.
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This story was originally published October 18, 2020 at 3:57 PM.
