| Greenville News
A dozen teenagers gathered on Monday night near a truck with shiny wheels in the parking lot of a cafeteria on Clemson Boulevard in Anderson. Two girls in the group hugged each other while two boys greeted each other.
None of them wore a mask.
It is precisely the type of scene that worries the authorities who see the rise in COVID-19 infections among South Carolina’s youngest residents.
Case sets involving teenagers who have visited Myrtle Beach are attracting national attention.
At Clemson University, 37 of the 120 football players tested positive for coronavirus in June.
People under 40 now account for more than half of the 36,297 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Carolina. Cases between 21 and 30 years have increased 966% since the beginning of April, according to the Department of Health and Control State environmental policy.
Although the virus may not cause serious illness in healthy people in their teens, in their 20s or 30s, state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said that there are “discouraging increases in young people transmitting the virus to their families and friends,” according to a press release from DHEC.
At a news conference last week, Governor Henry McMaster pleaded with residents under 40 “to follow the rules”.
“We know that young people can get this disease and not know it. They feel completely healthy, but they are completely infected and can easily pass it on to the elderly,” he said. “I mean in the strongest and most urgent terms: keep that social distance, especially if it’s your parents, your grandparents or anyone older than you. Be very, very careful. Keep that distance, wear this mask, wash your hands and be considerate.
“It is extremely important that we do this.”
In June, new cases of COVID-19 increased almost 200% across South Carolina, and the number of hospitalized patients more than doubled. COVID-19 has claimed at least 735 lives in the state.
And DHEC officials issued a new notice with a press release this week ahead of Independence Day. They urged the South Carolinians to avoid large meetings:
“The agency recommends that families celebrate the 4th of July by planning festivities at home and watching fireworks shows while staying in their vehicles or virtually tuning in to celebrations.”
“Terrible” outbreaks in Myrtle Beach threaten Grand Strand’s reputation
Dozens of students from Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia tested positive for COVID-19 after vacationing in Myrtle Beach in recent weeks, according to published reports.
A Myrtle Beach TV station reported on Tuesday an outbreak involving about 100 teenagers from Washington, DC, an area that returned from a recent trip to South Carolina’s top tourist destination. The report cited an email from the director of health of Loudon County, Virginia, which said that up to 50 people were staying in single houses and that there were parties that more than 100 people attended in Myrtle Beach.
Karen Riordan, president and CEO of the Myrtle Beach area Chamber of Commerce, said she also heard of COVID-19 cases involving a group of 90 Columbia high school students who did not wear masks or practiced social detachment when visiting a Grand Strand beach.
“Obviously, this is an unfortunate situation,” said Riordan. “Unfortunately, we cannot control all human behavior.”
Riordan said there have been problems with young people who “consider themselves immortal”, who are on vacation in Myrtle Beach and other parts of the state.
She mentioned a bus full of Ohio students who admitted after returning home from Myrtle Beach that “they didn’t wear masks and they didn’t practice social detachment and they practically ignored all the guidelines.”
“First of all, we are very sorry that people got sick,” said Riordan. “It is terrible. It is certainly not good for our local or national reputation.”
The number of new COVID-19 cases in Horry County, where Myrtle Beach is located, soared by more than 600% in June.
“There is a lot of concern and alarm on the part of our business community, but also of our residents,” said Riordan. “We have done such a good job until June in keeping the cases in Horry County very low.”
Tourism announcements continue despite increase in COVID-19 cases
Along the coast in Charleston County, 1,771 new cases of COVID-19 were reported last week, including 375 on Tuesday alone, according to DHEC.
In comparison, there were 1,190 new cases of COVID-19 during the past week in Greenville County, which state officials called a “hot spot” last month.
Greenville City Council passed a measure last week requiring residents to wear masks in supermarkets and pharmacies. Several other cities, including Charleston, Clemson and Columbia, followed suit by adopting similar rules.
McMaster and DHEC officials spoke about the COVID-19 outbreaks and cases that spread across state beaches during last week’s press conference.
“We are hearing stories about groups returning from the beach with almost everyone infected in the group,” said McMaster.
These outbreaks “endanger the health of their families and their entire communities,” said Dr. Joan Duwve, director of public health at DHEC.
Duwve recommended that anyone who has visited a South Carolina beach, who does not wear a mask or practice social detachment, take the COVID-19 test.
Still, while health officials are concerned about the rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across the state, the Myrtle Beach camera is showing TV ads in 60 markets across the country, said Riordan.
State tourism officials are also spending $ 1 million on a mostly digital advertising campaign that will run until the end of July in hopes of attracting visitors who live within a 375-mile radius of South Carolina.
One of the videos added to Discover South Carolina on YouTube last month features a lifeguard on a beach. The ad tells potential visitors, “When you’re ready, we’re ready.”
South Carolina problems are part of a worrying national trend
In the month following Memorial Day, cases of COVID-19 nationwide in people under the age of 17 increased by 144%, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As the number of new COVID-19 infections in the U.S. reached 40,000 a day for the first time since the pandemic began, Vice President Mike Pence and members of the federal coronavirus task force held a press conference on Friday. last fair in Washington, DC
“The overwhelming majority of people being infected are young,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during the briefing.
In response to the rise in COVID-19 cases, authorities in South Florida and Los Angeles have announced that they are closing beaches for the weekend of July 4th.
Bars, gyms, cinemas and water parks will close in Arizona for the next 30 days.
Pence sought to put a positive spin on the increased rate of infections in younger people, emphasizing that they are less susceptible than older individuals to severe coronavirus results.
“The fact that we are finding more young Americans who have contracted the coronavirus is a good thing,” said Pence at last week’s briefing.
But, he warned, young people with COVID-19 must act responsibly.
“We need them to do their part to guarantee and protect the most vulnerable,” he said.
Kirk Brown covers government and politics. Follow him on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM