Hey, SC, we’re not in the clear with COVID-19. This is no time to let our guard down

You’re starting to see the signs everywhere.

You see folks streaming into stores at a faster rate than they’re coming out of them.

You see sizable groups of people lining up outside restaurants and filling outdoor dining areas.

You see shoppers paying a little less attention to those one-way arrows in grocery aisles — and blithely walking across the “Wrong Way” stickers on the floor.

You see more walkers and joggers running two and three abreast on the narrow trails of Columbia Riverfront Park — and showing less willingness to quickly make room for the solo walker or jogger heading in the opposite direction.

And you can see it in other ways, too.

Now that Gov. Henry McMaster has started to relax the restrictions that were imposed after the coronavirus invaded South Carolina in March, a lot of us have begun to become a little relaxed, too, these days.

Maybe that’s understandable.

For weeks and weeks we South Carolinians were bombarded by “stay at home,” “potential lockdown,” “essential and non-essential workers” and countless other phrases spawned during COVID-19’s march across our state.

Now we just want to exhale.

But in the case of a respiratory illness like the coronavirus, there is a slippery slope from slightly letting our guard down to totally lowering our guard altogether.

And it’s a potentially dangerous one that we still have a responsibility to avoid.

Showing discretion when we make decisions on where we go when we venture outside our homes?

Yeah, it’s still important.

Showing good judgment when we make decisions on how often we venture outside our homes?

Yeah, it’s still important.

Practicing social distancing — and respecting the need for it — when we do venture outside our homes?

Yeah, that’s still important, too.

The fact is that while the sharp command for us to either “be home or be at work” is now in our rear view window, the ominous threat of COVID-19 is still filling up our windshield — and it will remain in our line of vision for some time to come.

South Carolinians are still contacting the coronavirus in notable numbers — it’s not unusual for our state to rack up 100-plus to 200-plus new cases per day.

South Carolinians are still dying from the coronavirus in stark numbers — right now the death toll is 300-plus and (sadly) counting.

And South Carolinians still aren’t being tested for COVID-19 at the same rate as residents in many other states — a glaring gap that our health officials are scrambling to close.

What does all of this mean?

It means that our state is hardly out of the woods yet with COVID-19 — and the worst thing we can do now is lull ourselves into believing otherwise.

Yes, we know, we know:

By raising these points about the danger that COVID-19 still poses to South Carolinians — amid the easing restrictions across our state — we run the risk of being compared to the cranky neighbor who yells at kids to stay off his lawn.

But, really now.

Do we really have to point out that urging South Carolinians to remain vigilant about a deadly illness that can strike anyone isn’t quite the same as howling at a few kids for trampling on a few blades of grass?

Really?

When it comes to COVID-19 and our state, now is not the time for us to become cocky, South Carolina.

Or careless.

Or sloppy.

The line between being a bit relaxed and becoming too lax remains a thin one.

Let’s make sure that we stay on the right side of that fine line.

This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 7:06 AM.