COVID is surging in Horry as masks become a bitter debate. How many people wear them?
There was a brief moment this summer when it was believed the worst of the coronavirus pandemic — masks included — was largely over.
That moment didn’t last long, as the ultra-contagious delta variant and a low vaccination rate spurred the country into yet another surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reversed course and recommended mask wearing indoors for people regardless of vaccination status in areas with a substantial spread of the virus.
Horry County has consistently fallen under that category since the guidance shifted in late July. Since then, Horry County hospitals have buckled under the demand of COVID-19 patients needing resources and the county has seen some of its most extreme case counts and hospitalizations at any point in the pandemic. In the last week alone, the county has added 2,200 cases to its total count, according to data kept by the CDC.
Masks have become a hot-button, polarized issue in Horry County and across the country as governments grapple with how to respond to the rising cases. Though most places don’t require masks in Horry, a group of around 40 people protested mask mandates earlier this month. On the other side of the debate, some Horry County Schools teachers are calling on the district to do more to curb the spread of COVID-19, including going against state law and mandate masks in school buildings.
So, how many people are wearing masks in Horry County? Simply put, the updated guidance from the CDC didn’t seem to make much of a difference here.
Sun News reporters have observed mask-wearing trends throughout the pandemic, visiting popular places for locals and tourists to count the number of people wearing masks versus the number of people with bare faces.
Mask mandates are sparse throughout Horry County, a shift from last year at this time when most municipalities required masks indoors to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Only the city of Conway requires masks in city-owned buildings.
The most recent count took place Thursday through the late morning and afternoon. Overall, reporters found the percentage of people masked was nearly identical to the last time we counted in May, shortly after the CDC had said vaccinated people could go unmasked in most places.
Around 70% of all people counted by reporters Thursday went maskless, the count showed. Overall, 712 people were observed, and 220 of them wore masks.
The count is meant to be a snapshot in time, not a scientific observation or study of masking throughout the county. There’s room for human error and mask recommendations and requirements vary based on location. If the count had been done earlier or later in the day, the numbers likely could have been different. We attended the same locations we have throughout the pandemic in order to compare the figures as accurately as possible.
Tanger Outlets in North Myrtle Beach around noon Thursday
While 101 people walked around the outlets without a face covering, 24 people wore face masks, our count found. It’s important to note the part of Tanger Outlets we observed was outdoors, where it’s proven the virus spreads less easily, so that could have had an impact on how many people chose to mask up.
Last time we counted in May, 45 people wore masks compared to 131 who didn’t.
Bass Pro Shop in Myrtle Beach Mall around 11:45 a.m.
Of the 77 people we observed at Bass Pro Shop Thursday, 22 were wearing a mask and 55 went without one. In May, 43 people were maskless and 17 people covered their faces.
Home Depot in North Myrtle Beach around 12:45 p.m.
The North Myrtle Beach Home Depot store had 19 mask-wearers and 39 people who didn’t wear a mask. This is nearly identical to the statistics from May, when 35 people went without a mask and 19 people wore a mask.
Food Lion on S.C. 9 outside of Longs around 1:15 p.m.
The split was 50/50 at the grocery store outside of Longs Thursday afternoon. There were 15 people who wore a mask and 15 people who decided against it. That’s the highest ratio of mask-wearers during our most recent count. Most other placed observed were off-balance, dominated by people choosing not to wear a mask.
May’s count showed a similar trend: 11 people didn’t wear a mask while 15 people did.
KJ’s Market IGA in Aynor around 2 p.m.
The small grocery store in the western part of Horry County had 11 people wearing masks and 13 people with bare faces. In the spring, eight people wore masks while 12 people didn’t.
Walmart on Church Street in Conway around 2:30
Maskless people made up the majority of Walmart customers in Conway Thursday. The store had 80 people without a mask and 63 people with a mask, compared to a much more even count in May, when 62 people wore masks and 59 people went without one.
Lowe’s on U.S. 501 around 3 p.m.
Both of this year’s counts in Lowe’s showed most people without a mask. On Thursday, 35 people went maskless while 14 people covered their faces. In May, 32 people didn’t wear a mask while 12 people did.
Publix grocery store in Carolina Forest around 3:30 p.m.
Thursday’s crowd in the Carolina Forest Publix was largely unmasked, with 40 people going bare-faced. On the other hand, 21 people wore a mask. The latest count is almost a direct reversal of the count in May, when the 40 mask-wearers outweighed the 18 people without masks.
Ocean Boulevard from 9th Ave. N. to 14th Ave. N. in Myrtle Beach around 4 p.m.
Ocean Boulevard has consistently had one of the lowest percentages of mask-wearers, even when mask requirements were in place last summer. That trend continued this week as 114 people went without a mask compared to 17 people who wore one. In May, only 11 people wore a mask compared to 181 people without a mask.
The Ocean Boulevard count, similar to Tanger Outlets, took place largely outdoors, which could have altered people’s decisions on whether or not to wear a face covering. The tourism season is also winding down, potentially leaving fewer people walking the Boulevard and more room for social distancing.
