SUMMARY OF STATE-SPECIFIC
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO
COVID-19 IN THE US 2020/2021
SOUTH CAROLINA
March 2023
Rebeca Nieves*, Morgan O’Brien*, and Jordan Shipley*; Kaitlyn Green,Sandhya
Laping.
* Authored equal contributions
Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford 1
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Table of Contents
South Carolina Summary and Graphic ......................................................................3
Closure and Containment........................................................................................4
Economic Response ..................................................................................................7
Public Health Response.............................................................................................8
Vaccine Policies.......................................................................................................10
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South Carolina
Summary of Government Response to COVID-19
COVID-19 Response in South Carolina: Using the OxCGRT Stringency Index for South
Carolina (blue) and the average OxCGRT Stringency Index across all US states, the above
shows the overall government response to COVID-19 in South Carolina in comparison to the
average US state response from January 2020 to December 2022. This also displays the
number of daily cases per 10,000 people in South Carolina (red).
Summary
The State of South Carolina first responded on January 29, 2020, preceding its
first case on March 7, 2020, and death on March 16, 2020. The first
policy/policies enacted were public information campaigns (represented as
H1 indicator in OxCGRT data).
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Closure and Containment
The indicators for closure and containment are measured on an ordinal scale and
encompass government responses that required or recommended temporary closures
of institutions, limitations on travel, and restrictions of gatherings or events. The
measurement of these indicators included a binary flag that indicated the geographic
scope of the government responses coded. Differentiated policies, or policies that were
specifically directed at those vaccinated or unvaccinated, are indicated when
flagged as ‘Vaccinated’ or ‘Non-Vaccinated’.
C1: School closures
C1 records closings of schools and universities and is measured as 0 (no measures), 1
(recommend closing or all schools open with alterations resulting in significant differences
compared to non-Covid-19 operations), 2 (require closing only some levels or categories,
e.g., just high school, or just public schools), or 3 (require closing all levels).
First school closure policies became active on March 16, 2020, in the form of
public schools and universities being instructed to close for 14 days. On
March 28, 2020, the school closures were extended for another 15 days. On
April 12, 2020, the school closures were further extended. On April 27, 2020, it
was announced that schools would remain closed until the end of the
academic year.
On June 11, 2020, the governor issued an executive order directing the
continued closure of public schools. On June 22, 2020, the Superintendent of
Education released a plan for reopening. On July 11, 2020, the governor
issued an executive order prolonging the school closures for another 15 days.
On July 15, 2020, the governor announced that schools must provide options
for virtual instruction. On July 26, 2020, the governor extended school closures
until August 10, 2020.
On August 2, 2020, the governor issued an executive order rescinding
previous school closures. Some local school districts remained closed. Some
schools began to resume in-person instruction on August 17, 2020. By
September 15, 2020, most schools were operating on a hybrid basis. By
March 2, 2021, all schools had returned to hybrid or in-person instruction.
For the 2021-2022 school year, University of South Carolina announced
that vaccinated students would not have to wear masks. The South Carolina
Department of Health and Environmental Control announced that schools
should not inquire about individuals’ vaccination status. Beginning January
18, 2022, vaccinated individuals were not required to quarantine if exposed.
C2: Workplace closures
C2 records closings of workplaces and is measured as 0 (no measures), 1 (recommend
closing or recommend work from home or all businesses open with alterations resulting in
significant differences compared to non-Covid-19 operations), 2 (require closing or work
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from home for some sectors or categories of workers), or 3 (require closing or work from
home for all-but-essential workplaces, e.g., grocery stores, doctors).
First business closure policies were active on March 18, 2020, in the form of
restaurants being required to suspend dine-in service. On April 1, 2020, non-
essential businesses were required to close. On April 6, 2020, retail businesses
were required to close. This continued until April 20, 2020, when retail
businesses were allowed to open.
On May 4, 2020, the governor lifted restrictions on outdoor dining. On
May 11, 2020, restaurants were allowed to provide limited indoor dining. On
May 18, 2020, more nonessential businesses were allowed to reopen,
including recreational and athletic facilities and close-contact service
providers. On May 22, 2020, the governor authorised the reopening of most
nonessential businesses. On June 11, 2020, remaining businesses were
allowed to reopen. On November 25, 2020, Governor McMaster issued an
executive order requiring all reopening businesses to abide by CDC COVID-
19 prevention guidelines and regularly screen employees. On June 7, 2021,
all closure requirements were allowed to expire; however, the South Carolina
Department of Health and Environmental Control continued to recommend
masks and social distancing.
C3: Cancel public events
C3 records cancelling public events and is measured as 0 (no measures), 1
(recommend cancelling), or 2 (require cancelling).
First public event cancellation policies were active on March 15, 2020, in the
form of restriction of gatherings exceeding 100 people. On March 18, 2020,
the governor prohibited all public gatherings hosted on any premises owned
by the State of South Carolina and public gatherings on any premises of
more than fifty people. This continued until the executive order on June 11,
2020, when events were allowed to open with social distancing and masks.
On October 2, 2020, events of more than 250 people or 50% of the venue’s
capacity, whichever is less, were prohibited.
On March 5, 2021, the prohibition of gatherings of 250 or more people
was changed to a recommendation of cancellation or postponement. On
May 11, 2021, all recommendations for cancellation or postponement were
rescinded.
On May 11, 2021, the City of Charleston urged all citizens to restrict
gatherings to ten or less. On May 15, 2021, this recommendation expired.
C4: Restrictions on gatherings
C4 records limits on gathering and is measured as 0 (no restrictions), 1 (restrictions on
very large gatherings where the limit is above 1000 people), 2 (restrictions on gatherings
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between 101-1000 people), 3 (restrictions on gatherings between 11-100 people), or 4
(restrictions on gatherings of 10 people or less).
First restriction on gathering was active on March 15, 2020, and restricted
gatherings of 100 or more people. This continued until replaced on March 23,
2020, with a restriction on gatherings of more than three people. On May 27,
2020, this restriction was loosened to only include gatherings of 50 or more
people. All gathering restrictions were lifted on June 11, 2020.
On April 1, 2020, the City of Charleston prohibited all gatherings of
more than ten people. There was no further information on when it ended.
C5: Public transport closures
C5 records the closing of public transport and is measured as 0 (no measures), 1
(recommend closing or significantly reduce volume/route/means of transport
available), or 2 (require closing or prohibit most citizens from using it).
First public transport closure policies were active on March 19, 2020, in the
form of the City of Columbia running public transport on a restricted
schedule and urging only essential workers to use public transport. On May
30, 2020, operations returned to normal.
On March 23, 2020, the City of Charleston began running public
transportation on a modified schedule. Most services had returned to normal
operations by May 30, 2020.
C6: Stay-at-home requirements
C6 records orders to "shelter-in-place" and otherwise confine to the home and is
measured as 0 (no measures), 1 (recommend not leaving house), 2 (require not leaving
house with exceptions for daily exercise, grocery shopping, and 'essential' trips), or 3
(require not leaving house with minimal exceptions, e.g., allowed to leave once a
week, or only one person can leave at a time, etc).
The first stay-at-home order was active on March 26, 2020 and required that
residents of the City of Charleston not leave their homes except to conduct
essential business. On April 7, 2020, the governor ordered all South Carolina
residents to stay-at-home except to conduct essential business. On May 3,
2020, this requirement was changed to a recommendation. On February 6,
2021, stay-at-home recommendations were removed.
C7: Restrictions on internal movement
C7 records restrictions on internal movement between states and is measured as 0 (no
measures), 1 (recommend not to travel between states), or 2 (internal movement
restrictions in place).
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On January 18, 2022, the SC DHEC recommended avoiding travel unless fully
vaccinated.
C8: International travel controls
C8 records restrictions on international travel for foreign travellers (not
citizens) and is measured as 0 (no restrictions), 1 (screening arrivals), 2
(quarantine arrivals from some or all regions), 3 (ban arrivals from some
regions), or 4 (ban on all regions or total border closure).
On January 18, 2022, the SC DHEC recommended avoiding travel unless fully
vaccinated.
Economic Response
The indicators for economic policies measured the policies that provided economic
support from the state government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The
economic indicators recorded at the subnational level in the US were E1 and E2, which
are measured on an ordinal scale without a flag indicating the geographic scope.
E1: Income support
E1 records if the government is providing direct cash payments to people who lose their
jobs or cannot work and is measured as 0 (no income support), 1 (government is
replacing less than 50% of lost salary or if a flat sum, that is less than 50% median salary),
or 2 (government is replacing 50% or more of lost salary or if a flat sum, that is greater
than 50% median salary).
On April 24, 2020, the South Carolina Department of Employment and
Workforce began accepting claims for assistance from those ineligible for
regular unemployment assistance. On October 2, 2020, Governor McMaster
extended assistance to furloughed employees. On February 19, 2021, South
Carolina began offering financial assistance to citizens struggling with rent or
mortgage payments. Income support stopped on March 11, 2021.
E2: Debt/contract relief
E2 records if the government is freezing financial obligations for households (e.g.,
stopping loan repayments, preventing services like water from stopping, or banning
evictions) and is measured as 0 (no debt/contract relief), 1 (narrow relief, specific to
one kind of contract), or 2 (broad debt/contract relief).
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On March 17, 2020, the State of South Carolina imposed an eviction
moratorium. On May 7, 2020, the South Carolina Public Service Commission
allowed utility companies to offer deferred payment plans. On May 15, 2020,
the state-wide eviction moratorium expired.
Several individual utility companies suspended service disconnections;
however, there was no state-wide policy.
Public Health Responses
The public health response indicators recorded health system responses to
the COVID-19 pandemic. The indicators recorded at the subnational level in
the US were H1, H2, H3, H6, H7, and H8. The geographic scope of these
policies was marked by an ordinal flag for indicators H1, H6, and H8.
Differentiated policies, or policies that were specifically directed at those vaccinated or
unvaccinated, are indicated when flagged as ‘Vaccinated’ or ‘Non-Vaccinated’ for
indicators H6 and H8.
H1: Public information campaigns
H1 records the presence of public info campaigns and is measured as 0 (no Covid-19
public information campaign), 1 (public officials urging caution about Covid-19), or 2
(coordinated public information campaign, e.g., across traditional and social media).
The first public information came on January 29, 2020, as an assurance to the
public that the state government was monitoring the situation. On February
26, 2020, the South Carolina health department launched a coordinated
information campaign via Twitter, in addition to a dedicated website.
H2: Testing policy
H2 records government policy on who has access to testing and is measured as 0 (no
testing policy), 1 (only those who both have symptoms AND meet specific criteria, e.g.,
key workers, admitted to hospital, encountered a known case, returned from overseas),
2 (testing of anyone showing Covid-19 symptoms), or 3 (open public testing, e.g., "drive
through" testing available to asymptomatic people).
Tests were first available on March 4, 2020, for symptomatic individuals. On
May 18, 2020, the state government announced they intended to make
testing available to all regardless of symptom status. On August 30, 2020, SC
DHEC began encouraging routine testing for those whose job might cause
exposure.
On January 3, 2022, the state government began encouraging citizens
to refrain from testing if not symptomatic or known to have been exposed.
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H3: Contact tracing
H3 records government policy on contact tracing after a positive diagnosis and is
measured as 0 (no contact tracing), 1 (limited contact tracing; not done for all cases),
or 2 (comprehensive contact tracing; done for all identified cases).
On March 6, 2020, the state government announced that they had begun
contact tracing. On May 11, 2020, the SC DHEC announced that they had
expanded their contact tracing staff to 400, in addition to contracting out
1400 tracing employees. On March 22, 2022, the DHEC began prioritising
case investigations that would yield the most public health benefit.
H6: Facial Coverings
H6 records policies on the use of facial coverings outside the home and is measured
as 0 (no policy), 1 (recommended mask wearing), 2 (required in some specified
shared/public spaces outside the home with other people present, or some situations
when social distancing not possible), 3 (required in all shared/public spaces outside the
home with other people present or all situations when social distancing not possible), or
4 (required outside the home at all times regardless of location or presence of other
people).
On June 23, 2020, the first mask policy was active, and it
required/recommended that Greenville residents wear masks inside grocery
stores and pharmacies. On August 3, 2020, Governor McMaster issued an
order requiring masks in all government buildings. On May 11, 2021, Governor
McMaster issued an order banning mask mandates. Multiple counties
attempted to issue mask mandates in defiance of this order, but they were
all struck down.
In the absence of a state-wide masking policy, individual counties and
cities issued their own mask ordinances.
H7: Vaccination policy
H7 records policies for vaccine delivery for different groups 0 (no availability), 1
(availability for ONE of following: key workers/clinically vulnerable groups that are non-
elderly/ elderly groups), 2 (availability for TWO of following: key workers/clinically
vulnerable groups that are non-elderly/elderly groups), 3 (availability for ALL of
following: key workers/clinically vulnerable groups that are non-elderly/elderly groups), 4
(availability for all three plus partial additional availability for select broad groups/ages),
or 5 (universal availability).
On December 14, 2020, front-line healthcare workers in South Carolina
began receiving vaccinations. Also eligible were residents and staff of long-
term care facilities. Healthcare workers generally received Pfizer, whereas
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long-term care residents and staff generally received Moderna. On January
8, 2021, SC DHEC recommended that hospitals vaccinate admitted patients
65 and older. On January 13, 2021, South Carolina residents aged 70 and up
became eligible to receive the vaccine. On March 31, 2021, the vaccine
became available to all South Carolina residents aged 16 and up. On May
14, 2021, the vaccine became available to all residents aged 12 and up. On
August 13, 2021, SC DHEC began recommending booster shots. On
November 2, the vaccine became available to all residents aged 5 and
up.
H8: Protection of elderly people
H8 records policies for protecting elderly people (as defined locally) in Long Term Care
Facilities and/or the community and home setting. This is measured as 0 (no measures),
1 (recommended isolation, hygiene, and visitor restriction measures in LTCFs and/or
elderly people to stay-at-home), 2 (narrow restrictions for isolation, hygiene in LTCFs,
some limitations on external visitors and/or restrictions protecting elderly people at
home), or 3 (extensive restrictions for isolation and hygiene in LTCFs, all non-essential
external visitors prohibited, and/or all elderly people required to stay-at-home and not
leave the home with minimal exceptions, and receive no external visitors).
The first policy to protect elderly persons was active on March 13, 2020 and
restricted all visitation to nursing homes and assisted living facilities, with the
exception of end-of-life situations. This was loosened to allow closed window
visitation on June 29, 2020. On September 1, 2020, SC DHEC began allowing
outdoor visitation. On November 18, 2020, SC DHEC began requiring elder
care facilities to allow visitation with certain restrictions, including the
presence of a COVID-19 case in the staff or residents in the last 14 days or a
county positivity rate of 10+%.
Beginning September 1, 2020, SC DHEC required facilities to allow
visitation unless the resident was unvaccinated.
Vaccine Policies
The vaccine indicators record vaccination policies regarding the distribution
of vaccines and vaccine mandates. This is recorded as V1-V4 and includes a
state’s prioritisation list, eligible groups, cost of vaccination to the individual,
and the presence of a vaccine mandate. These indicators do not include a
flag for geographic scope.
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V1: Vaccine Prioritisation
V1 records the ranked position for different groups within a state’s prioritisation plan
when vaccines resources were too scarce for universal availability. Groups are ranked
on an ordinal scale, the number represents the rank of prioritisation, and equal-ranked
categories share the same number.
The groups initially prioritised were healthcare workers in the plan first
published December 7, 2020. This plan was further altered on December 14,
2020, to include residents and staff of long-term care facilities. South Carolina
updated their prioritisation on January 8, 2021, to include at-risk people aged
65 and up.
Vaccine availability shifted from prioritised to universal on March 31, 2021.
V2: Vaccine Availability
V2 records when categories of people – regardless of their position in a prioritised rollout
plan – receive vaccines. This is measured as 0 (vaccines are not being made available
to this category) or 1 (vaccines are being made available to this category).
Vaccine administration began on December 14, 2020 with healthcare
workers. The expansion of availability then included residents and staff of
elder care facilities on December 28, 2020. On January 8, 2021, vaccines
became available to at-risk people aged 65 and up. On March 2, 2021, the
vaccine became available to educators. On March 8, 2021, the vaccine
became available to at-risk people aged 16 and up, clinically vulnerable
people, people in crowded/communal living conditions, disabled people,
factory workers, frontline retail workers, “high contact” professions, police
and first responders, and pregnant people. On March 31, 2021, vaccines
became universally available.
V3: Vaccine Financial Support
All vaccines were government-funded at the federal-level across the US.
V4: Mandatory Vaccination
V4 measures the existence of a requirement to be vaccinated and is
measured as 0 (no requirement to be vaccinated) or 1 (requirement to be
vaccinated).
Vaccines were never mandated in South Carolina.
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