COLUMBIA, S.C. _ A group of students from a Columbia high school who clustered together, often without masks, during a week-long Grand Strand beach trip in early June returned to the capital city with COVID-19 infections, multiple sources told The State newspaper.
"The only way you should be going to the beach is with your family, and if you go out, you should social distance and wear a mask," said a Columbia-area health care professional with first-hand knowledge of the high school coronavirus cases. This worker did not want to be identified because of privacy concerns within their health community.
COVID-19 is generally not fatal to young people. But infected young people who display no symptoms can easily transmit the deadly disease to older people who are more susceptible to dying or having severe complications, experts say. So far, more than 121,000 Americans have been killed by COVID-19 since March 1, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Multiple sources identified the school the beach-bound youths attended as Hammond School, one of several private schools in the Columbia area for the college-bound.
The sources, who included a Hammond parent, said other youths who traveled the Grand Strand from other high schools also were found to be infected once they returned inland. The beach was Litchfield beach, south of Myrtle Beach and just north of Pawleys Island, a parent said.
Hammond headmaster Christopher Angel said on Wednesday he is aware of rumors about a Hammond student beach trip resulting in coronavirus cases, but he was not able to confirm the validity of those rumors.
"It's all speculation," Angel said.
Angel did confirm, however, that there were some known cases of Hammond students with coronavirus. One student, he said, did not attend the school's recent graduation ceremony because of a COVID-19 diagnosis.
"All I can really say is that we, like all schools, have some students (who have tested positive). I have no idea how small or how large the number is," Angel said.
In any case, the beach group infections are a sign of what the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control calls a sharply rising number of young people testing positive for COVID-19.
A spokesperson with DHEC said Wednesday that "One of the recent concerning trends that we're seeing nationally and in South Carolina is a growing number of young people under the age of 30 are testing positive for COVID-19.
"Since April 4, South Carolina has seen a 413.9% increase in newly reported COVID-19 cases among the 21-30 age group, and a 966.1% increase in newly reported COVID-19 cases among the 11-20 age group," the spokesperson said.
DHEC refused to confirm or deny the COVID-19 group cases connected to beach trips from Hammond and other high schools. "To protect individual's identities, we're unable to comment on individual cases," the agency said.
DHEC also said that people should "wear a face mask in public, refrain from group gatherings, properly social distance by six feet between those who are not household members, wash your hands frequently, and stay home if you're sick."
However, there is no real enforcement mechanism for DHEC's recommendations, and Gov. Henry McMaster has repeatedly refused to issue an executive order that would make it a violation of the law for people not to wear masks. McMaster is a strong supporter of President Trump, who pointedly avoids wearing a mask and has, by his example, encouraged many of his followers not to wear masks either.
However, medical experts including the nation's top epidemiologist, Dr. Tony Fauci, are virtually unanimous in saying that wearing masks is an effective way of stopping many COVID-19 transmissions. The disease is mostly spread by peoples' breath, either in talking, sneezing, coughing or singing, experts say.
Meanwhile, South Carolina's dramatic recent spike in the number of COVID-19 cases _ nearly 1,300 were announced Wednesday _ has attracted attention outside the state.
The states of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey announced Wednesday that anyone coming into their states from South Carolina and other states with sharply rising numbers of COVID-19 will have to quarantine for 14 days.
And a national airline, United, is suspending air service to Myrtle Beach next month due to the coronavirus pandemic, the airline said in a statement.
Myrtle Beach has been targeted as the origin of at least 30 coronavirus infections recently reported in West Virginia. And more than a dozen high school students from Ohio tested positive for the virus after a large group trip to Myrtle Beach, The Sun News reported.
As long as South Carolinians do not wear masks in public, COVID-19 will continue to spread, DHEC said Wednesday.
"In any location where individuals choose to not protect themselves and others, we will expect to see increased cases and more community spread. Everyone is at risk of getting the virus or unknowingly transmitting it to someone else," DHEC said.
There are signs across South Carolina that officials are increasingly recognizing the necessity of mask wearing as local governments pass _ or consider passing _ requirements to wear masks.
Late Wednesday, the state's Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson issued an opinion supporting the right of cities and counties in South Carolina to pass laws requiring their citizens to wear masks. Seeking neutral ground, however, Wilson emphasized that his office was not "endorsing, defending or even attacking" the local mask rules.
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, who led his city council to pass a mask requirement ordinance earlier this week, said of Wilson's opinion, "There's no perfect way to slow the spread of COVID-19, but public health experts have been clear that masks help significantly in the fight against this virus. We must be willing to come together as a community and make small sacrifices to save the lives of our neighbors and those we love."
And at a Wednesday press conference, DHEC's epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell told reporters that a statewide requirement to wear masks would be "much more effective" than local governments passing rules.
