Fort Mill no longer will require masks in public, though state rules still in effect
Take Fort Mill off the list of local cities and towns that require face masks in public.
The Fort Mill Town Council voted Monday night not to extend an emergency ordinance that would keep a mask requirement in place for 60 more days.
The vote was 3-3 with Mayor Guynn Savage voting for the extension with council members Lisa Cook and Trudie Heemsoth. Council members Larry Huntley, Ronnie Helms and Chris Moody voted against the measure. Council member Jamie Shirey wasn’t present.
“We’re at a dead heat, guys,” Savage said. “And at a dead heat, it doesn’t pass.”
The council voted July 6 to require masks or face coverings in restaurants, retail establishments and similar public places due to COVID-19. The rule took effect two days later. Rules were similar to others in Rock Hill, York and Chester.
Gov. Henry McMaster has said several times in recent months that towns, cities and counties should be free to decide on mask requirements in public. But he did put an executive order in place last week that requires face coverings in restaurants and state government buildings.
McMaster and state health officials have repeatedly encouraged South Carolina residents to wear masks in public, without requiring it.
The Fort Mill rule, which expired Aug. 5, applied to restaurants along with hair salons, barber shops, grocery stores, convenience stores and a variety of other retail uses.
On July 27, the council voted 3-2 to extend it, with the original ordinance set to expire. While a majority of the council voted then to extend the rule, it didn’t pass. Emergency votes require two-thirds approval rather than the majority needed for most town decisions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control are among many public health organizations to promote mask usage as a means of preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
Several national retail chains and grocery stores, including Walmart and Target, have mask requirements for customers before they enter.
Public opinion on mask requirement
Savage said there has been a moderate amount of public feedback on the topic in recent weeks. The decision to have the requirement has been split among residents, as it was among council members Monday night.
The mayor and town manager read two public comments on the issue Monday night during the virtual meeting. One person wanted an extension. Another wrote she hasn’t been in town businesses since the mask rule began and wants it to end.
Savage acknowledged there have been changes in the pandemic since the town first implemented a mask rule.
“It was prior to the governor’s orders about masks,” she said. “It was also prior to many of the national food chains and business outlets going to a requirement. This council, during this pandemic, has been ahead of the curve in doing everything we could to protect our community and ourselves, and I am very proud of that.”
One detail hasn’t changed, the mayor said.
“This particular ordinance was all about doing anything we could, or would be perceived, to be helping protect the health and safety of our constituency,” Savage said. “It was not a political decision.”
Huntley gave several reasons why he doesn’t support a mask requirement.
“As a practical matter, it really doesn’t make any difference,” he said of a mask rule.
Anyone can claim a medical reason not to wear one, he said, without showing proof of why. He said a requirement won’t stop people who want to wear masks from wearing them. Fort Mill, Rock Hill and other local areas with rules have have favored public education toward compliance rather than civil penalties.
“I personally wear it everywhere I’m supposed to,” Huntley said. “The only time I really have to wear it too much is during preaching. And I admit wearing this thing for an hour makes me sleepy.”
Huntley reiterated prior concerns — he voted against an extension late last month — about test data. He doesn’t believe it’s entirely trustworthy. Huntley said he went to get his own test weeks ago, which came back negative, and his doctor told him said the same person can test positive multiple times before taking a negative test to clear that patient.
Current health department guidelines suggest someone who tests positive can be cleared from isolation when symptoms have subsided at least 10 days from illness onset, not through a negative test result.
Helms said his decision comes as a desire to give people choice.
“I’m not an advocate for forcing people to wear a mask,” he said. “I am an advocate for them making their own decision whether they want to wear a mask or not.”
Cook said she understood some of the concerns about a mask requirement.
“I don’t disagree that the numbers are definitely skewed and not an exact science for us at this point,” she said. “But I also know my 43-year-old cousin was in the hospital with this, had a heart attack, has kidney issues and had COVID. So it is a real disease. Now she took every precaution she had, and I’m going to do the same for myself and my family.”
Cook also took at aim at the argument in some places, including York County municipalities where the issue has been debated the past two months, that mask usage is a matter of faith.
“God is in control, is my belief,” Cook said. “And yes, while that’s the case, I do think He expects us to take precautions as we can.”
Cook said she wants the community to get safely back to school, work, places of worship, sports and other places people gather. If masks are part of the path there, she said she supports it.
Council members both for and against the mask requirement extension say they plan to wear masks. They say they know people who have suffered from the coronavirus.
“It’s a nefarious disease, isn’t it?” Savage said. “It treats everybody differently. I can just tell you that whether there’s an ordinance or not, I intend to wear mine, for you and for me. Because I would not want anybody to get it, and I don’t want to be a carrier for it.”
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 10:04 PM.
