Recent editorials from South Carolina newspapers:
The Times and Democrat
January 27
Possible sale of Santee Cooper to a private dealership
The Lago Marion Regional Water System continues to grow as a reliable source of water in rural areas that seek to improve the quality of life and expand development opportunities.
More recently, the water system received a $ 10 million grant to further expand its services to rural areas in and around the T&D region.
Since the Lago Marion water treatment plant was completed over a decade ago, the list of cities served has grown and this expansion is set to continue.
But there is concern.
A key player in the water project is the South Carolina Public Service Authority, better known as Santee Cooper, one of the country’s largest utilities. The owner of the artificial lakes Marion and Moultrie, Santee Cooper was created more than half a century ago to bring growth and development to rural counties by providing electricity. Water was and is a logical extension of the mission.
But will the mission continue if South Carolina’s leaders decide to sell Santee Cooper?
And what about Santee Cooper’s fundamental role in economic development through loans, grants, other incentives and facilities?
The governor and lawmakers should look at the big picture, first realizing that the sale of Santee Cooper to a private concessionaire will result in higher electricity rates for its customers. And a private dealership has no interest in Santee Cooper’s other missions.
Although the leadership in the SC Chamber and Governor Henry McMaster are advocates of the sale, there is a general belief that votes to sell are not there in the SC Senate.
Legislators in our region are among those who will argue that Santee Cooper is an important state asset. They agree that reforms in areas like governance are needed at the dealership, but indicated that the sale could be a big mistake.
In fact, Senate minority leader and Orangeburg senator Brad Hutto said that utility may not even be an important issue in this legislative session. “There is no crisis at Santee Cooper right now that dictates that it has any superpriority for us,” he said.
It may not be a “super-priority,” but going beyond the conversation about selling and getting into the real discussion of changes at Santee Cooper would be a good thing in 2021-22.
The Index-Journal
January 26
State vaccine distribution plan
We are only a few days away from the Super Bowl, which will pit the Kansas City Chiefs (hey, when are they going to change their names, right?) Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (hey, how come the pirates aren’t complaining about the name?).
OK, with that resolved, let’s get to the point. Sometimes, you may have noticed, we chose to go back to the parking lot, so to speak. This is one of those moments.
This has little – nothing, really – to do with football, other than to bring out the cliché that is used a lot about the Monday morning quarterback. In short, it is easy after the game to say how the team should have played.
When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent launch of vaccines, there have been many QB sessions on Monday mornings.
Frankly, we also understand. It’s frustrating. We have known for over a year that COVID-19 has taken over the world. We knew that vaccines were in progress. We even knew when they were approved by the FDA and released for distribution.
But there was no real national distribution plan implemented with the vaccine. Health care providers were essentially left to their own devices. For comparison, think about whether a nuclear bomb was created, built and delivered to the military. Only, no instructions on how to handle it properly, let alone how to use it.
OK, it might not be the best comparison, but the fact is that hospitals, including our own Auto-Regional, had to strive to come up with the best plan they could to get vaccines into the arms of thousands. Much more difficult than aligning cars for drive-through tests.
This week, letters began to reach the newspaper about Self’s vaccination distribution plan. And how refreshing it was to see that the letters were complimentary and not full of attacks and complaints of incompetence. Sure, the initial launch was not as smooth as Self would have liked, but they were entering new and unfamiliar territory as they prepared to do right in a region of seven counties with no clear guidance from anyone.
Once again, we know how incredibly frustrating it must be for many people whose fingers almost got worn out when pressing redial on the appointment line, only to be greeted with a busy signal. Auto replied. She continues to respond and look for ways to make the vaccination process even smoother.
Remember that while people who put together a distribution plan without any master instructions with useful illustrations are in the health care business, they are not necessarily experienced in pandemic wars. Unlike Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, who had a lot of practice before the February 7 Super Bowl, Self and others had to improvise as best they could. …
If you are a second or third string QB who thinks you could or could have done better, speak up by all means. On second thought, just stay on the bench and let the experts continue to work on their game plans in an effort to win the game.
The Post and Courier
January 25th
Safely returning students from South Carolina to classrooms
One of the most contentious issues in the hyper-contentious debate over COVID-19 involves whether public schools should offer face-to-face classes to all children whose parents want them back in the classroom.
Due to educational, social, emotional and even physical damage, distance learning can cause students – as well as the way it affects parents who are unable to work when they have to become part-time teachers – is also one of the most important.
Therefore, as COVID-19 infection rates remain alarmingly high and school districts across the state refuse to reopen after the Christmas holidays, we found it important to lend a megaphone to a report that was published last week by the in-house newspaper. MUSC.
According to the January 19 article in Catalyst News, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina found that only about 500 of the 38,000 students and staff participating in face-to-face learning in the Charleston County School District tested positive for COVID-19 among the start of face-to-face classes on September 8 and the beginning of winter holidays on December 18 This is just over 1% and less than a sixth of what we experience in the general population.
This will not come as a surprise to people who pay attention to the Charleston County School District because it is based on ongoing research that MUSC is conducting for the district – some of which were reported in The Post and Courier and referenced in our editorials . The research contributed to the school board’s decision to continue offering face-to-face classes and, just before Christmas, to temporarily suspend competitions and athletic training.
But the results were apparently a surprise to the 16 districts that, according to the SC Department of Education, still offered only remote classes on Monday. And perhaps for most school districts, which still operated on a hybrid schedule, which usually means that students are in the classroom only two days a week.
Evidence from Charleston County schools suggests that most of the 500 cases of COVID-19 were contracted in the community, according to Allison Eckard, an infectious disease pediatrician at MUSC Children’s Health who is working with the school district on prevention measures pandemic.
Here’s what she told Catalyst News: “There were only a handful of cases that may have been transmitted within schools and within the classroom. There were cases, no doubt, but most of them were acquired outside the classroom. Those that happened inside the classroom most often involved a teacher giving to a teacher or a teacher giving to a student. And I don’t have examples of students giving to teachers – the thing that everyone was so concerned about. “
Read again: no example of students infecting their teachers.
This may help explain why half of the 744 teachers who participated in the Charleston Teachers’ Association’s mid-winter survey disagreed with the idea that “all instructions are best taken online during the pandemic.”
“In most cases,” continued Dr. Eckard, “the infection can be attributed to a family member or friend where they spent time together outside of school. In some cases, sports activities, rides and social gatherings were identified as the sources of infection. “
This helps to explain why she thinks, like an increasing number of medical experts, that “the risk for students is much greater if they are not in school”.
Oh, and another important point from Dr. Eckard: she started by opposing sending students back to classrooms, but “now I believe. Children need to be in school and it is safe”.
It is difficult to think of anything more important for our state to work on now than ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to return to school.