Richland County Council passes COVID mask mandate, including in schools

Richland County residents will have to wear masks in most public places, including schools..

Tuesday evening, Richland County Council passed an emergency mask mandate in a nine to two vote. The mask requirement begins Sept. 15.

Councilwoman Gretchen Barron, who chairs the county’s coronavirus ad hoc committee and voted for the ordinance, said she was concerned about people who are vulnerable to COVID-19 and young children who aren’t eligible for vaccination.

“I wear a mask for those other people.”

The mandate will require masks in most commercial spaces and crowded areas. A person not wearing a mask where required could be fined $25.

Employers also must require their employees to wear masks under the ordinance. An employer who doesn’t enforce mask wearing could be fined $100.

The county also required that masks be worn in schools and day cares but acknowledged that teachers and administrators cannot enforce the ordinance because of a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling. Instead, fire marshals will enforce the school mask rules. The county will provide the masks to schools.

After the mask mandate passed, Councilwoman Allison Terracio said, “We were thinking about other folks who can’t be vaccinated.”

The county passed the mask requirement as coronavirus cases have exponentially increased since June. Last week, more people were hospitalized across South Carolina because of COVID than at any point since the virus hit in March 2020.

Richland County has 1,014 cases of COVID per 100,000 residents, according to the county, which puts it in health officials’ highest tier of infection rate. Anything more than 200 cases per 100,000 is considered a high rate.

About 52% of Richland County’s eligible residents are fully vaccinated, the county said.

Richland County’s mask mandate follows similar ordinances from the cities of Cayce, Columbia and West Columbia.

A proposal by Councilman Joe Walker III to allow vaccinated people to be exempt from wearing masks failed.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for an update.

This story was originally published September 14, 2021 at 7:35 PM.

David Travis Bland

The State

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David Travis Bland is The State’s editorial editor. In his prior position as a reporter, he was named the 2020 South Carolina Journalist of the Year by the SC Press Association. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2010. Support my work with a digital subscription