City passes first reading of ordinance requiring masks in public buildings

A new mask requirement convincingly passed first reading at Charleston City Council’s virtual meeting Sept. 14. The non-emergency ordinance will need council approval at a second and third reading before it goes into effect. 
 
Last Tuesday, Charleston City Council voted 10-3 in support of an ordinance requiring the wearing of face masks in any building in the city that is open to the public, including in all public and private schools and daycare facilities. The mask ordinance, if approved in the second and third reading, will require every person 2 and older to wear face masks inside any building in the city that is open to the public. This includes inside schools, restaurants, retail shops, barber shops, grocery stores, pharmacies and any “other buildings open to the public.”
 
Violators are subject to face a $100 fine for the first offense, $200 for the second offense and $500 for the third offense and any thereafter. Code enforcers from the city’s Department of Livability, along with the Charleston Police Department and Charleston Fire Department, will have authority to issue citations.   
 
At its August’s meeting on Daniel Island, city council faced strong citizen opposition to mandatory face mask requirements and shot down a similar ordinance by two-thirds majority. This month, the majority of council was in agreement with the proposed ordinance. Councilmembers Harry Griffin, Karl Brady and Kevin Shealy dissented.   
 
Councilwoman Marie Delcioppo, District 1 representative covering Daniel Island, Cainhoy and portions of the downtown Charleston peninsula, voted in favor of the ordinance but did voice discontent with council making decisions for school districts who have separate elected bodies.
 
“I’m not stepping into the schools and telling them what to do,” Delcioppo said. 
 
As currently written, the ordinance does not exclude Berkeley County School District schools located in the city and, if the ordinance passes on the second and third reading, students at the Daniel Island School and the three Phillips Simmons schools will have to wear masks. Students at Bishop England and other private schools on Daniel Island would also fall under the city ordinance. 
 
Berkeley County School District does not currently require masks, except on buses. Other schools in the Berkeley County School District which do no fall within the city’s jurisdiction would not be subject to the mask ordinance.
 
Griffin, with an enlarged American flag on his Zoom background, expressed strong disapproval with the proposal.
 
The city’s director of Emergency Management, Shannon Scaff, reported that approximately 58% of South Carolinians have at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine and approximately 49% have completed vaccination.
 
Roper St. Francis’ President and CEO Dr. Jeffrey DiLisi noted that approximately 41% of patients hospitalized are COVID-related. Of those patients, approximately 85-95% are unvaccinated. 
 
“We’re not out of this yet, unfortunately,” DiLisi added. “... We’re going to continue to see infection, we’re going to continue to see hospitalization and most sadly, we’re going to continue to see death.” 
 
“We may have thought we were done with COVID and it is not done with us yet,” Tecklenburg added. 
 
Council’s next meeting is scheduled to take place in a hybrid format at city hall on Tuesday, Sept. 28, when it is anticipated that the second and third readings of the ordinance will be up for vote.
 

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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