‘Admit when you are wrong.’ Cunningham urges SC lawmakers to undo school mask mandate ban
Democrat Joe Cunningham, the former one-term Charleston congressman who is running to unseat South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, is calling on state lawmakers to hold a special legislative session to repeal the ban on mask mandates in schools.
And if House and Senate leaders refuse?
In a statement shared first with The State newspaper, Cunningham said local school districts should do whatever it takes to keep their students safe, adding that those school districts “have have an obligation to step up and save lives.”
“The outbreaks are coming if the Legislature doesn’t act immediately. We know that because they’ve already begun,” Cunningham said Thursday, one day after the Kershaw County School District announced more than 100 students had tested positive for COVID-19.
The school district had been in session for less than a week.
Earlier this year, before the emergence of the highly contagious delta variant that is now fueling a surge in coronavirus cases statewide, an Upstate lawmaker successfully inserted an amendment — known as a proviso — into the state budget that prohibits school districts from using state money to require masks for any students or employees.
“The sign of a true leader is the ability to admit when you are wrong,” Cunningham said. “The governor and the Legislature simply got this wrong and it’s time for them to swallow their pride and fix their mistake before we put thousands of innocent children in harm’s way next week.”
Speaker of the House Jay Lucas’ office did not have a comment on Cunningham’s call to repeal the proviso. Senate President Harvey Peeler’s office did not immediately comment.
Cunningham’s call to action comes as state health officials increasingly find themselves standing alone in warning South Carolinians about COVID-19.
Dr. Linda Bell, a state epidemiologist, told reporters Wednesday that the state is experiencing its second-highest rate of daily new coronavirus cases and that trend is “sharply” curving upward.
“As your state epidemiologist, and as someone who has studied disease control and prevention for my entire career, I have never been more concerned about the health of our state than I am today,” Bell said at the press conference.
That day, the S.C Department of Health and Environmental Control announced more than 10,000 people in South Carolina had now died from COVID-19.
McMaster, in a press conference of his own Monday, doubled down on his message that decisions about students wearing masks in schools should be personal choices made by parents.
“Mandating masks is not the answer,” McMaster said at the time. “Personal responsibility is the answer. Common sense is the answer.”
Columbia state Sen. Mia McLeod, a second Democrat running to unseat McMaster, also took aim at the governor on Thursday for his reluctance to instate a mask mandate for students.
After the Susan B. Anthony List, a conservative anti-abortion group, gave McMaster their first 2022 endorsement, McMaster tweeted, “The fight for life is a fight worth having.”
McLeod fired back in a Thursday morning tweet, questioning which lives McMaster is interested in protecting.
“You meant the fight for fetuses…just not kindergartners - 6th graders, right @henrymcmaster? Got it,” McLeod posted alongside an illustration of a masked emoji with only its eyes visible.
Cunningham, in his statement, urged McMaster to listen to state health officials and “stop listening to your political consultants.”
“If the Legislature does not act, people will die,” Cunningham said. “That’s not hyperbole, governor. It’s a fact.”
Reporter Joseph Bustos contributed to this article.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 10:54 AM with the headline "‘Admit when you are wrong.’ Cunningham urges SC lawmakers to undo school mask mandate ban."
