If you want to see how badly South Carolina is mismanaging this pandemic, take a look at the lawsuit against Patriots Point.
As Emily Williams reports, a businessman from Mount Pleasant sued Patriots Point for canceling his planned New Year’s Eve party on the Yorktown flight deck … the day before the supposed ball was due.
Yes, on December 30th.
The Patriots Point Development Authority Board called an emergency meeting that day to “postpone” the event due to the growing number of COVID-19 cases and advice from the medical community.
It was a good idea, but why did it take so long? Some board members – and Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie – had suggested canceling everything long before.
“In my personal opinion, I reiterate the advice of health experts that large social gatherings during the period of rising COVID cases should be avoided,” said Haynie well before the event.
Haynie has been the main voice of reason in this pandemic. The state, not so much. And that is the problem here.
In November, officials from the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control warned people to avoid large meetings over the holidays. You know, Thanksgiving, Christmas … and New Year’s Eve. They said that virus transmission was increasing, an understatement, if ever.
In the eight months between March and November 24, South Carolina recorded 196,330 COVID-19 cases and 4,000 deaths. Two months later, the state has nearly 400,000 cases and 6,000 deaths.
So, the experts were right. The rate of cases and deaths has doubled.
But in the meantime, accelerateSC, an arm of the state Department of Commerce, approved the app for the “Yorktown countdown” with 1,000 guests – not including servers and employees.
For comparison: when there is no killer virus on the loose, Yorktown’s cockpit has a capacity of just 1,500.
Everyone understands: the pandemic has been deadly for businesses and Patriots Point is no exception. Events are being canceled left and right, so most companies and organizations are desperate to accept any deal they can. Companies, understandably, also need a way to make money.
And sure enough, everyone is going crazy. A party looks great … but it was a bad idea. Someone should have said “no” from the start.
For the state to warn people against family reunions, but then saying OK to more than 1,000 people at such a blatantly careless risk (and it was, even with “social distance”, masks and disinfectants) is a complete contradiction.
It is also dragging this pandemic immeasurably, which does not help any company in the long run. Not to mention the lives that this double standard can cost.
Of course, South Carolina specializes in this type of contradiction. This week, state lawmakers spent a lot of time trying to pass an unconstitutional law to limit abortion in South Carolina. Which, if passed, will only cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees before the courts dismiss it.
State lawmakers say they are doing this because they are “pro-life”.
Ironically, they represent the part of the state where COVID-19 is most prevalent, probably because it is also the part of the state where most people tend to ignore expert advice and do not wear masks to protect others. Which is not very “pro-life”.
Nor is it the state’s contradictory message about this pandemic.