McMaster gets the balance right in mapping SC’s path from our COVID-19 nightmare

Thanks to the global impact of coronavirus the 2020 Olympics won’t be held this summer — but the lineup of governors twitching with anticipation to be the first to fully reopen their state in the shadow of COVID-19 actually does resemble the scene before the start of the Olympic 100-meter sprint final.

And to an extent that’s understandable.

In addition to the lives that continue to be affected or lost by COVID-19 each day, the virus has inflicted immense economic damage on all of the states that have been forced to impose various lockdown or “stay at home” policies since early March.

The economic wreckage has been significant, and states all across the country are justifiably anxious to start the process of halting and repairing it.

But when a race has actual life and death ramifications — and moving to reopen a state during an ongoing pandemic clearly has them — the main focus must be to avoid a false and potentially disastrous start.

It’s an encouraging sign for our state, then, that Gov. Henry McMaster is displaying that proper sense of perspective at the moment.

McMaster’s plan to gradually resume business operation statewide — with an eye toward ideally having the state’s economy back to “humming” by late June — strikes a reasonable balance:. it’s an effort to begin South Carolina’s journey out of our COVID-19 nightmare while still acknowledging that considerable sacrifice and struggle will be necessary before we can fully emerge from it.

By allowing assorted businesses to reopen across South Carolina — including department stores and some other “non-essential” retail operations — McMaster is taking an assertive yet careful approach toward reigniting a state economy that’s clearly been affected by the virus-induced shutdown.

And there’s good reason for it to be cautious, too.

The reality is that the coronavirus curve in our state has yet to be effectively flattened; on Tuesday, for example, state health officials confirmed that the total number of COVID-19 cases in South Carolina now exceeds 4,600 — and they also announced the deaths of 11 more people because of the virus.

That’s why McMaster must continue to give the scientific numbers equal priority to the economic ones as he directs the state’s tentative steps back toward normalcy.

If there are any signs that the move toward reopening the state is compromising the effort to move the arrow of COVID-19 cases downward, McMaster must show the flexibility and judgment to change course and slow down the process.

There’s no need for McMaster to try to seize the gold medal for recklessness that neighboring Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia appears intent on winning; Kemp’s decision to fling his state’s doors completely open for normal business and activities in a few days’ time is a move that would make the Peach State the butt of countless “pit” jokes if the potential consequences of his heedlessness weren’t so serious.

Reopening a state in the midst of a modern-day plague requires the focus of an Olympic sprinter who has the discipline to stay in the blocks long enough to avoid jumping the gun — but not too long that they leave a daunting gap to make up once it’s time to spring to action.

To this point McMaster has done a good job of striking that balance.

In the race to get South Carolina up and running — and humming — again, “on your mark, get set, go deliberately” is the right strategy to embrace.

This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 8:59 PM.