Students return to COVID debate
By Bobby Bryant, Editor
A couple of hours after Darlington County public-school students returned to class Aug. 9, Gov. Henry McMaster doubled down on his stance that no school districts in South Carolina will be allowed to mandate face masks for kids. “Shutting the state down, masking our children, is the wrong thing to do,” McMaster said at a Columbia news conference just as the Darlington County School District was beginning the fall semester. “Mandating masks is not the answer. Common sense is the answer.” McMaster’s comments underlined the fact that in Darlington County public schools, masks against COVID-19 are going to remain optional for this semester, perhaps this entire school year. (As students got off buses early Aug. 9 to return to classes at St. John’s Elementary School, most seemed to be wearing masks into the school.) The governor said masks in school are a barrier to effective education. But he is encouraging people to get the COVID vaccine: “If you’re going to get a vaccination, now is a great time.” By coincidence, the Darlington County School Board’s regular monthly meeting fell on the same day that classes resumed and that McMaster made his comments, so COVID naturally was a topic for board members as they assembled Aug. 9 – but district officials were upbeat, focusing on students’ return to school. “It was nice to see all the students come through the buildings,” Education Superintendent Tim Newman said. “ … New shoes, new book bags, same smiles. … I think everybody’s glad to be back all together.” “We had our share of hiccups,” he said. “We had a few traffic delays that we all experienced in some of our different locations – specifically Hartsville Middle School and Darlington Middle School, and Lamar-Spaulding as well. That’s to be expected on the first day.” “I hesitated for about 1.5 seconds whether to start giving all the kids high fives, and I just had to give them high fives,” Newman said. “I would say it was a great first day,” he added. “A great start to the school year.” Board member Jamie Morphis wanted some clarification on the district’s policies on what happens if a student in a particular class tests positive for COVID. “What percentage of the class, who goes into quarantine?” “Everybody within 3 feet of that student for longer than 15 minutes,” Newman said. But, he said, people who’ve been vaccinated and who get within 3 feet of a COVID-positive student for that amount of time would not be considered a “close contact.” Board member Charles Govan advised everyone to get vaccinated if possible. By the middle of the first week of school, local news media were reporting that 30 students and staff members were being affected by COVID infections, although it was not clear whether this included people who had to be quarantined. “We are continuing to follow the same COVID-19 procedures as we did last year,” the district said in a statement to news media. “When we have a positive case, our nurses work with DHEC to help identify the individuals in the school or class who might be close contacts. “Those individuals (or their parents if they are students) are then notified of the close contact status and asked to quarantine. We take the additional step of notifying the class contacts, who are in the same class but are not considered close contact and therefore do not need to quarantine. We ask all parents to keep students home if they are sick or show any symptoms. “Though we cannot require masks, we do strongly recommend that staff and students wear masks. We also encourage students to wash their hands frequently. Classrooms have hand sanitizers and are disinfected regularly. Per DHEC guidelines, we strive to keep students at least 3 feet apart at all times.” Other educational institutions in the county have been moving to deal with the continuing COVID threat in different ways. At least for this semester, Hartsville’s Coker University will require students to wear masks indoors whether they’re vaccinated or not. Darlington County, like the rest of the state, is now in a “high” incidence rate for COVID cases, DHEC says. Darlington County showed 129 confirmed and 169 probable cases for the past two weeks in data DHEC published last week. State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said last week she fears that this school year could be “a perfect storm for disease spread” if S.C. public-school students are unmasked and unvaccinated.
