The United States reported its very first case of COVID-19 approximately two months ago. Since then, the number of cases has skyrocketed, and – as of Friday – the country has become the first to reach 100,000 confirmed cases per the reports of health departments across states.
With new cases being reported by the hundreds each day and rising concern over a potential overload of the country’s healthcare system, there is one question that must be asked: what is being done to stop this?
The answer to this question on the federal level is easy to deduce. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump tweeted, “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life [and] the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of Coronavirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
This tweet was not an outlier. The president has continued to show very little concern or urgency toward addressing the current health crisis in the United States. Prior to President Trump’s enactment of the Defense Production Act yesterday evening, his administration had left the handling of COVID-19 largely up to governors.
The absence of federal direction has resulted in a loss of valuable time in preventing further spread of the disease and has caused inconsistencies between city policies within states, South Carolina included.
Governor Henry McMaster has adamantly refused to consider a shelter-in-place order for South Carolina and has followed suit in leaving decisions up to local governing bodies.
Local leaders in Columbia and Charleston were among the first to enact stay-at-home orders for their respective cities, but now these policies are challenged by Attorney General Alan Wilson. In a legal opinion issued Friday, Wilson argued that local municipalities do have the ability to exercise emergency powers that are delegated to the governor, leaving cities and their residents out to dry without the action of Governor McMaster.
Democratic state leaders like Representative Mandy Powers Norrell took to Twitter to respond to Wilson’s release. “As a municipal attorney for over 20 [years], I respectfully disagree. Municipalities have the full authority under both Home Rule [and] S.C. Code 5-7-250(d) to enact emergency ordinances to protect life, health [and] safety.”
The lack of leadership exhibited on both the federal and state levels by President Trump and Governor McMaster does not come without a cost. The decisions made – or lack thereof – have real consequences for South Carolinians who face growing financial and health concerns each passing day.
The curve has not flattened. The rate of infection has not slowed. Until tough, decisive actions are made by the president and our state leaders, more and more South Carolinians will lose their lives and their livelihoods to COVID-19.