Richland County drops school mask mandate after court ruling on city’s ordinance
Richland County said on Friday that it won’t enforce a law requiring mask wearing in schools and daycares after the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down a nearly identical Columbia law.
The county will continue to strongly encourage students and school staff to wear masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, it said.
The county passed an emergency ordinance on Aug. 16 requiring masks in schools, which mirrored a city of Columbia ordinance.
Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the city over its mask ordinance, arguing it violated a state budget law passed earlier this year that barred schools from using funds to enforce mask wearing. The state’s supreme court sided with Wilson and dismantled the Columbia law Thursday. The county’s mask rule was likely to have a similar fate.
Richland County Council Chairman Paul Livingston said in a statement that the court decision did not focus on the effectiveness of mask wearing. Livingston stressed the need for public awareness about COVID-19 and steps to mitigate virus spread.
“Safeguarding the well-being of schoolchildren and their opportunity to learn is of the utmost importance,” Livingston said. “Richland County will continue to monitor the spread of the virus and consider how we can best assist our local school districts in their duty to educate our children safely.”
This story was originally published September 4, 2021 at 7:22 AM.