When will coronavirus restrictions end in Horry County? Here’s what we know
Despite positive trends, it is still too early to know when Horry County and Myrtle Beach can safely relax coronavirus restrictions.
Horry County Fire Chief Joey Tanner said the number of emergency hospital transports of people with coronavirus symptoms is down compared to last week.
At last week’s press conference, Tanner said there were between 30 to 40 service calls a day to transport someone displaying coronavirus symptoms to local hospitals. On Monday, he said that number was down to below 30 people daily over the last seven days, he said.
But it still could be weeks before the crisis peaks.
Horry County Assistant Administrator for Public Safety Randy Webster said the peak of the crisis could come at the end of April or into May. As of Tuesday, Horry County has 147 confirmed cases with the estimated total cases exceeding 1,000.
“I know people want things to open back up … but unfortunately with this event we really haven’t hit the peak in our area,” Webster said. “We want some more change to take place in a positive way.”
For the foreseeable future, businesses, restaurants, beach accesses and hotels remain closed. Social distancing is working, Webster said, and now is not the time to give up.
Reopening the economy will require federal and state restrictions to first be lifted. For example, Horry County does not have the power to reopen public beach access on its own since it was an order from the governor that closed them.
Talks are beginning at the state and federal level to begin reopening parts of the economy. Unlike during a hurricane, there is no indication when it will be safe to begin the recovery process, so the county will defer to higher levels of government to begin that process, Webster said.
Horry County Police Chief Joe Hill said his officers are still looking into non-compliance with the governor’s orders. On a first call, police are not issuing citations, instead relying on people to follow the rules on their own.
“We’re looking for voluntary compliance and most often we get it,” Hill said. “Other than that we’re marching on and looking to keep the community safe.”
Other than one employee at the jail, no other county public safety employees have tested positive for the virus.
The county has no plans at this time to furlough or layoff its staff. Webster said the economic crisis has been tough, and the situation could change.
On Friday, Horry County Council will hold its annual budget retreat to set the spending levels for the coming year.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 1:00 PM.
