Calling SC ‘unique,’ Gov. McMaster resists calls to issue state stay-at-home order
Gov. Henry McMaster continued to resist the idea of issuing a stay-at-home order after he was peppered with questions at a Friday news conference about why he chooses to issue incremental orders closing businesses and restricting residents’ movement while refusing a broader rule.
The questions came as more than 40 other states have issued broader shelter-in-place orders.
South Carolina is the only state in the southeast that has not issued one yet.
“The measures we have taken are both mandatory and voluntary about staying home,” McMaster said on Friday. “We are taking a deliberate approach. Our state is not like everyone else’s state.”
Despite stopping short of a statewide home order, McMaster did expand an earlier order that shuts down more “nonessential” businesses, including florists, and furniture, clothing and shoe stores. Home improvement, hardware and firearm stores were exempted.
That expansion comes on top of other past orders.
He has so far ordered nonessential state employees to work from home, closed public access to beaches and lakes, and allowed police to break up groups of three or more people. He also has closed dining-in at restaurants and bars, closed schools, encouraged private businesses to have their employees work from home, and limited visitations to hospitals.
He said South Carolina doesn’t have a large metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, New York City, or New Orleans, which have become hot spots.
“Every state is different,” McMaster said. “They have different economies, different resources, they have different medical facilities. We are taking a deliberate approach, to be as aggressive as we possibly can at the right time and we’re following the data and the science to do that.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday night during a coronavirus town hall on CNN that the remaining states without statewide stay at home orders should reconsider.
But McMaster said he is consulting with his team in the Palmetto State.
“If you look at the orders we have issued, both those that advised as well as those that mandate, we have urged people to stay home from the very beginning,” McMaster said, citing signs on the highways saying people should not be out and about and emergency alerts issued by the state.
“I don’t know how many more ways is necessary to say that at this point. But again what we are taking is a comprehensive approach based on the data, based on the recommendations, advice and understanding of the team here in South Carolina many of whom, the professionals representing those you have seen at these briefings that we’ve had,” he added.
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This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Calling SC ‘unique,’ Gov. McMaster resists calls to issue state stay-at-home order."
