Columbia, West Columbia pass new citywide mask mandates as COVID-19 surges
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The cities of West Columbia and Columbia each passed citywide mask mandates during emergency meetings on Wednesday afternoon as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the Palmetto State.
West Columbia was the second Midlands city to adopt an emergency mask ordinance in less than 24 hours.
The West Columbia City Council approved the measure by an 8-1 vote in a special meeting Wednesday, with Councilman Mike Green voting against. About an hour later, Columbia City Council unanimously passed its own face mask measure.
The West Columbia ordinance will require anyone in a public space indoors to wear a mask, or risk a city fine.
West Columbia’s ordinance was approved just a day after neighboring Cayce adopted a similar emergency ordinance in response to a plea from Lexington Medical Center. The hospital said the crush of patients being admitted with COVID-19 symptoms had put a strain on its ability to give other patients needed treatment.
Lexington Medical Center is located on Sunset Boulevard just outside West Columbia’s city limits.
West Columbia Mayor Tem Miles cited the situation at the hospital in arguing for the new mandate at Wednesday’s meeting.
“This is 100% because of the current situation in our emergency rooms, at Lexington Medical but also across the river” at Prisma Health and MUSC’s Columbia hospitals, Miles said.
The ordinance is in line with guidance from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and will expire after 30 days, the mayor said.
Meanwhile, Columbia’s 30-day ordinance requires residents to wear face masks inside of commercial businesses or other indoor venues open to the public in the city. It also said residents are required to wear masks “in situations where distances between people change frequently, such as a busy sidewalk, waiting area or popular outdoor area where it is impractical or impossible” to maintain social distancing.
Columbia’s measure would also include schools citywide, just a week after the city and the state attorney general’s office battled in the state Supreme Court over masks in schools.
The Columbia ordinance is similar to the mask measure Columbia previously had in place for more than a year, from April 2020 to May 2021. City fire marshals are tasked with enforcing the measure, and fines for violations are $100. Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said the ordinance is effective immediately, but there will likely be a period of time in which marshals will offer warnings before they start writing tickets.
The inclusion of schools in Columbia’s mandate could rekindle an argument that has been roiling in the court system recently. In early August, the city passed a measure requiring students and faculty to wear masks in some city schools. This came despite a one-year law, called a proviso, that the state Legislature included in the 2021-22 state budget that said money from that budget could not be used to enforce mask mandates in schools. Republican state Attorney General Alan Wilson subsequently sued the city over its school mask mandate.
The state’s highest court sided with the attorney general last week.
“In this declaratory judgment action, the Court finds the City of Columbia’s ordinances mandating face masks in public schools that serve grades K-12 are in direct conflict with Proviso 1.108 of the 2021-2022 Appropriations Act,” the state Supreme Court said in a summary of its decision posted on the court’s internet site.
An essential piece of the court’s decision was that school officials would inevitably be involved with the enforcement of the ordinance, and therefore state budget funding would be used toward the effort.
But in its new ordinance, the city directly states that the measure would be enforced by officials from the city fire department and that no school officials or personnel are required to help with enforcement. It notes that no school official shall expend any funds from the 2021-22 state appropriations bill toward the enforcement or promotion of the city’s measure.
For more on the school side of the issue, click here.
“We can do this,” Benjamin said of using measures to push down COVID-19. “We’ve been leading from the front every step of the way. We’ve been doing it together. Let’s beat this thing together. Get vaccinated.”
The moves come as new COVID cases continue to surge in South Carolina. The state Department of Health and Environmental Control reported another 3,000 new cases on Wednesday and 25 more deaths. In just the last five days, DHEC has reported more than 23,000 new cases and more than 200 new COVID deaths.
In Cayce, Lexington Medical Center sent a letter asking the city to reimpose a mask mandate and encourage more people to get vaccinated against the disease.
“As a state, we have tried to rely on a strategy to trust that individuals will be responsible and make the right decision for themselves,” the letter said. “Based on current rates of vaccinations, deaths, hospitalizations, & infections, we are failing.”
The letter was signed by hospital CEO Tod Augsburger, chief medical officer Brent Powers and chief of staff Mac Nowell.
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 12:46 PM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story reported an inaccurate vote total by the West Columbia City Council on the mask ordinance. The vote was 8-1.
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