As COVID-19 cases surge in North Myrtle Beach, face covering requirement extended
As new Horry County coronavirus cases rise, residents and visitors in North Myrtle Beach will still be required to wear face coverings to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The North Myrtle Beach City Council voted 5-0 to extend the ordinance, despite opposition from some residents. Council members Bob Cavanaugh and Terry White were absent from the meeting.
The current requirement was put in place June 30 and was set to expire Oct. 30. Now it will operate under a sunset clause, meaning it will expire when the city’s emergency declaration relating to the pandemic no longer is in place.
The mask extension comes after at least 14 coronavirus cases were linked to an unofficial shag dancing event at Duck’s Night Life in North Myrtle Beach at the end of September.
The 29582 ZIP code, which encompasses North Myrtle Beach, has reported 804 cases since the beginning of the pandemic in mid-March, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. But in the last two weeks, the ZIP code has seen 210 cases, nearly twice as many as any other Horry County ZIP code during the same period.
“We have people who have died this week from COVID-19,” Mayor Marilyn Hatley said. “Our numbers increased over 200 in 12 days. We have COVID-19 here in our community at this time, and we need to do everything that we possibly can. Yes, masks may not protect 100%. But the CDC and all your scientists have said wearing a mask will help with slowing the spread of COVID-19.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and numerous studies say that wearing a face covering, along with social distancing and hand washing, are key to preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
Around 50 community members attended the meeting, where masks were required in the council chambers but not behind a glass wall where the public could sit. Most in attendance wore masks, but more than a dozen people beyond the glass wall didn’t wear them. Certain chairs were covered in caution tape, and the folding chairs were spread out to encourage social distancing.
Council members discussed the matter with Hatley highlighting the “bad press” the area received over the summer following connections to COVID-19 spikes in other states.
“I don’t want to get letters from people, which I have gotten many, who say, ‘I’m never coming back because I went into a restaurant or I went into a store and they weren’t wearing a mask,’” Hatley said.
Councilwoman Nikki Fontana added that the council deliberated at length over the mask ordinance.
“I would like to say that everyone knows, this has not been an easy decision and nor would we want to be put in this position again, but this is what was handed to us at this time and place in the world,“ she said.
Resident Joe Gosiewski supported the ordinance, but said he’s concerned about how it is enforced after visiting multiple businesses where less than half of people were wearing masks.
“I don’t know how that works with public safety or who’s going to be responsible for monitoring this, but I can tell you there are places all over the city where people aren’t wearing masks. It’s just not being followed,” he said.
Dorothy Cassidy, a retired teacher, said the ordinance is evidence that the residents of North Myrtle Beach are being “manipulated by the powers that be.”
Face covering rules
Following a recommendation from the Municipal Association of South Carolina, the mandate shifted from an emergency ordinance to a standard ordinance, which requires one reading instead of two. The association recommends that emergency ordinances don’t extend past six months, prompting the city to make the change.
The ordinance says COVID-19 “continues to present an increasing danger to the health, safety and welfare of the public.”
As the coronavirus cases increased in Horry County this summer, North Myrtle Beach and other municipalities passed local ordinances requiring face masks in public places. The spread slowed, but new daily cases in the county are trending upward again, as they are in other parts of the country.
The ordinance requires people in retail businesses — such as grocery stores, pharmacies and salons — to wear a face covering. Businesses are responsible for requiring their employees to cover their faces. Businesses are not required to enforce the face coverings but are responsible for posting signs about the requirement.
Citizens not wearing masks can be fined up to $25 for a civil infraction, and businesses who don’t require their employees to wear masks can face up to $100 in fines per day, the ordinance reads. People with health conditions that prohibit them from wearing a mask or can’t remove their own mask are exempt from the requirement. Other exemptions include people who can’t wear a mask due to age or religious beliefs.
The ordinance also addresses a common criticism of mask mandates: they’re an annoyance.
“City council finds the inconvenience of an ordinance requiring the use of cloth face coverings or other suitable face coverings is minimal compared to the risk to the health, safety and welfare of the community were no such rule imposed,” it reads.
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 9:08 PM.
