Governor touts SC school without mask rule as state model
CAMDEN, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster toured an elementary school in Camden on Wednesday that he said is an excellent example of how to fight COVID-19 in schools without requiring everyone to wear masks.
Camden Elementary School starts with a thermal scanner that takes the temperature of every student as they walk in without them having to stop. Any student warmer than normal is pulled aside and checked more carefully.
The school and others in the Kershaw County School District have isolation rooms set up where any students who might have COVID-19 can be placed.
When a possible case is identified, school nurses and others do a careful tracing to figure out whether any students were within 3 feet (1 meter) of an infected person for more than 15 minutes, which are the federal guidelines for having to quarantine. They review classroom seating charts, video from school buses and even game film from football games to try to only pull out students who are considered close contacts.
Classes are carefully measured to keep students the right distance apart and while half the students in a grade go to the cafeteria for lunch — sitting three students at an eight-student table — the other half stay in their classrooms.
“This is how you do it,” McMaster said. “This is how you win in South Carolina.”
Kershaw County schools do not have a mask mandate this school year, following the wishes of Republican legislators who put a one-year provision in the state budget meant to prevent school districts from requiring masks.
That rule was passed in June, when for the entire month, South Carolina reported about 100 COVID-19 deaths. On Wednesday alone, state health officials report 138 deaths with the monthly total halfway through September approaching 900 deaths.
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