COLOMBIA, SC – On May 11, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster officially reopened the state’s economy after four weeks of government-imposed social detachment aimed at slowing the spread of the new coronavirus.
“With our increased ability to test people in our state, it is time to put these small businesses back into operation responsibly and gradually,” said McMaster in a statement.
“We have the opportunity to set an example for the rest of the world, reinvigorating our economy while staying safe, but we can only do that if the South Carolinians continue to follow the advice and recommendations of our public health experts.”
Almost exactly a month later, South Carolina had arguably its worst week in the pandemic.
Between June 1 and last Monday, this state of five million people registered 3,069 new infections and 63 deaths, according to the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). As of Monday, the health agency had counted 14,800 total cases of coronavirus and 557 deaths, and projected an overall COVID-19 case rate of 442 per 100,000 people as of June 27. The agency said it was worse than California’s 323 per 100,000 rate on June 6, but much better than 1,965 per 100,000 in New York.
But what is frightening about South Carolina’s statistics is that all the evidence indicates that the pandemic is getting worse here, not getting better. “It seems very clear that this data indicates an increase in the circulation of the virus,” said Theresa MacPhail, author and medical anthropologist at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, he told The Daily Beast.
There were 624 new infections in South Carolina on June 6, according to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker, which registered an increase in infections in South Carolina as of Thursday, and a sinister two-week trend that did not came close to federal reopening guidelines.
While the data appears to indicate that social detachment in April helped to prevent South Carolina hospitals from being overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, the numbers also suggest that McMaster’s eagerness to reopen the economy backfired for state residents.
More people are getting sick. More people are dying. The mortality rate of infected patients has not changed: it was around 3.6% in early May and 3.5% in early June. And some companies, having reopened just a few weeks ago, are closing again. McMaster’s office did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
The new coronavirus officially arrived in South Carolina on February 24 with six infections, according to DHEC data. The tests organized by the state began in the first week of March. COVID-19’s first death would have occurred on March 16. That same day, McMaster, a Republican and close ally of Donald Trump, suspended activities at state schools. But he hasn’t closed deals – yet. And for a few weeks he also did not try to stop large public meetings.
Major cities in the state of Columbia and Charleston began implementing measures of social detachment on their own in late March, closing bars and restaurants, imposing curfews and limiting public gatherings.
But aside from the closing of schools, around the first month of the spread of the coronavirus in South Carolina, there was very little in the way of a state effort to slow the pathogen. At the end of March, the republican-led state government was actively discouraging local public health efforts. “We affirm that the local government cannot exercise the emergency powers delegated to the governor by the general assembly,” said Attorney General Alan Wilson on March 27. The general assembly is the South Carolina state legislature.
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, a Democrat, ignored Wilson’s memo and continued local measures of social detachment. “The actions taken by the city are entirely within our authority,” said Benjamin.
There was an initial spike in new infections across the state on April 6, with 183 new patients. The next day, McMaster finally ordered many companies to close across the state. Bars, restaurants, beauty and nail salons, entertainment venues and gyms close their doors. With the encouragement of the state, many churches have changed their services online.
At the height of social detachment in South Carolina in early April, DHEC estimated that population mobility has dropped 42% from normal. In comparison, in New York City, mobility fell by more than about 90 percent at the end of March, although the metrics used to measure mobility varied between the two assessments.
The infection rate has decreased. South Carolina hospitals have 405 beds in intensive care units, but the maximum number of ICU beds it has ever needed to respond to the pandemic was 105 on May 1.
Although late to start, South Carolina managed to turn the curve. But, as in a number of other states, there were signs at the beginning that public health measures would not last. The first major public protest against the social distance measures took place in Columbia on April 24. A few hundred people, many from outside the city, marched or protested their cars.
These protests, which Trump himself encouraged, were common in Democratic-led states. South Carolina was one of the few exceptions, where protests targeted Republican leaders.
In early May, Trump began to insist that the United States should reopen with or without a coronavirus vaccine and regardless of whether all states have managed to contain the virus. McMaster, who was one of Trump’s first endorsers in 2016, acted swiftly to suspend South Carolina’s public health measures.
The state’s request for “work or home” ended on May 4. Over Memorial Day weekend in Hilton Head, South Carolina, 62,524 cars traveled across city bridges in both directions to and from popular area beaches. That was just 10,000 fewer cars than it crossed the bridge on the same weekend in 2019.
On June 8, the state’s overall mobility fell just 13% from normal, according to DHEC. The mandatory social distance has practically ended. DHEC continued to encourage people to wear masks voluntarily, wash their hands and avoid crowds.
Coronavirus cases have increased. The health agency cites figures showing a peak in deaths between April 28 and May 6, when 11 people died of COVID-19 per day, on average. The daily death rate dropped to about six a day on May 24. Then it started to rise again. In the first week of June, about nine people died each day, and the rate was increasing.
DHEC knows it has a problem. “While we expect the number of cases to increase as we work with community partners to increase testing events across the state, we are also noting that many are not adhering to public health recommendations on social distance, they avoid large meetings and use masks in public, ”the agency told The Daily Beast in a statement.
Many restaurants and bars that reopened in May closed again in June after learning that team members had tested positive for coronavirus.
One of them was Carolina Ale House in Columbia. “We are closing earlier tonight for a thorough cleaning and thorough cleaning led by management,” announced the restaurant on June 5. An employee at Publico Kitchen and Tap of Columbia told the boss that his roommate had tested positive. Management closed the restaurant last Wednesday and, on Thursday, sent all staff to take the test. Everyone was negative. Publico reopened on Wednesday.
Until the beginning of June, the health agency continued to alert restaurants about infected employees and demanding temporary closings, sterilizations and public notifications. But McMaster has not restored any state measures.
A Columbia bar owner expressed his frustration at the state’s reopening plan. “It’s like sticking your head in the sand because you don’t want to see what’s going on,” he said, requesting anonymity for fear of reactions in the deeply conservative state.
“We were driven to do business knowing that we have to walk the line between putting food on our table and keeping us, family, staff and customers safe,” Sean McCrossin, owner of several restaurants in Columbia, told The Daily Beast.
Anthony Alberg, an epidemiologist at the University of South Carolina at Columbia, told The Daily Beast that he was not surprised that South Carolina was unable to contain the pandemic. And, he argued, his current trajectory should not be attributed to better surveillance of the disease.
“In the beginning, South Carolina took the essential steps necessary to flatten the curve,” said Alberg. “The problem reopened very early, which led to a huge increase in cases of COVID-19 that cannot be counted just due to the increase in tests for active SARS-CoV-2 infections.”
Updated 6/10 for clarity.