Essential? Sex toy shops, private zoo and others allowed to open ahead of COVID-19 changes
An adult toy store, private zoos and a variety of home furnishing companies in Horry County were all deemed essential after they applied to be exempt from coronavirus emergency orders that closed businesses.
Many mini golf courses, a variety of salons and gyms without the ability to have “one-on-one” workout sessions were denied essential status.
In total, 513 Horry County businesses over the span of seven weeks sought clarification from the state if they were allowed to operate under coronavirus emergency orders issued by Gov. Henry McMaster. Nearly 90 percent of them were given essential status.
Many of these businesses were approved for a variety of reasons, including the orders simply didn’t apply to them, their industry was not directly named, an order was clarified after implementation or because they could prove they offered essential services.
The South Carolina Department of Commerce was tasked with determining whether an applicant’s business was deemed essential or not. Since the beginning of April, the office processed more than 6,000 applications seeking clarification.
Most the applications were submitted in early April before emergency orders started to be rescinded. South Carolina has slowly been reopening, with gyms, hair salons and pools now allowed to reopen Monday. Most retail stores, restaurants and hotels are allowed to operate as long as social distancing is maintained.
But the Department of Commerce is still issuing clarifications. As of May 11, only 852 of the 6,490 statewide applicants were deemed non-essential after seeking clarification. A full list of what businesses applied and if they were deemed essential can be found on the Department of Commerce website.
Ultimately, the process involved the department reviewing each application and determining if the business was necessary to stay open and could do so safely.
“The goal was/is to keep as many businesses open that are able to safely do so. In general, if a retail operation remained open, that business was likely providing products deemed essential,” Commerce Spokesperson Alex Clark wrote in an email.
For example, Clark said mattresses were deemed an essential product, so if a furniture store showed it sold mattresses, the store likely got an exemption.
The Department of Commerce worked closely with the governor’s office and the attorney general to make sure any business given essential status was within the spirit of the governor’s orders.
Steven Wright with MegaFitness Gym in Myrtle Beach was deemed essential on May 4 after he submitted a detailed application to the state. MegaFitness is a private gym that offers 24/7 access to its members as well as rehabilitation services. Wright said he told the state his gym could do one-on-one services while offering a clean facility.
While gyms will be allowed to open next week, getting a clarification allowed MegaFitness to partially reopen sooner than most.
“We are doing personal training only,” Wright said Monday. “No fitness classes as of right now.”
Clark said when the gym applied for exemption after the governor said personal workout sessions were okay, showing it could do 1-on-1 services typically was enough to get the gym exemption status.
“If a gym/fitness center did not articulate an attempt to shift to the 1-on-1 personal training/physical therapy or rehabilitation services model and requested to re-open for normal operations, those requests were designated as non-essential since that portion of the executive order has not been lifted,” Clark said.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Essential? Sex toy shops, private zoo and others allowed to open ahead of COVID-19 changes."
