As COVID-19 cases spiral out of control in South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued a “last call” order on Friday.
The mandate prohibits alcohol sales after 11 p.m. at bars and restaurants, but it does not apply to grocery stores and other retailers. Restaurants can however stay open and continue to serve food after 11 p.m. It goes into effect starting Saturday night and will remain in place until further notice.
McMaster, again, focused the blame of the recent spread of COVID-19 on young people and said he hoped this order would help stop the surging cases.
“Many young people aren’t taking the virus seriously,” McMaster said. “It’s time for younger adults to behave like mature adults.”
When asked whether he would consider a statewide mask mandate, McMaster repeated that it would not be feasible to enforce such an order across the entire state. He will leave those decisions to local municipalities.
13 of South Carolina’s 15 largest cities have passed mask mandates in the last two weeks.
South Carolina was recently named as the No. 3 worst hotspot in the world for COVID-19.
Florida and Arizona are the only two states and countries in the world with worse COVID-19 outbreaks, according to the New York Times analysis.
South Carolina now has more COVID-19 cases than states with twice the amount of people such as North Carolina and Michigan.
Nearly half of the COVID-19 cases were recorded in the last two weeks. More than 50,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in South Carolina.
South Carolina has seen a recent surge in hospitalizations.
On June 22, 731 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in South Carolina. Yesterday, 1,433 coronavirus patients were hospitalized.
According to the latest IHME model – updated late Tuesday July 7, 2020 – a total of 4,059 South Carolinians are expected to die from COVID-19 by November 1, 2020.
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