EDUCATION: Board of Education approves starting dates for 2020-21 academic year. PAGE A7
APRIL 16–22, 2020 WWW.YOURISLANDNEWS.COM
COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
Is Beaufort seeing the first wave of a surge? Beaufort Memorial Hospital won’t say how many patients it’s treating for COVID-19
City of Beaufort Public Works workers and the S.C. DOT clean up a tree that blocked Ribaut Road early Monday morning. Photo by City of Beaufort.
Deadly storms skirt Beaufort area
Local group collecting goods to help out SC neighbors By Mike McCombs For the most part, Beaufort County residents caught a break early Monday morning, missing the worst of the storms that swept across South Carolina through the night. At least nine residents of the state were killed, including five in Hampton County and one in Colleton County where a tornado touched down. As many as 250 homes were destroyed in Hampton County. Other media outlets reported that at least 20 planes were destroyed at Walterboro’s Lowcountry Regional Airport, while many homes were destroyed and roads blocked across the county seat of Colleton County. In Beaufort, the damage was limited. Around 7 a.m., a large oak tree came down, blocking Ribaut Road between Hermitage and Depot roads, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. It was removed by mid-morning. Power was out to traffic signals at key intersections in Port Royal – Lady’s Island Drive and Ribaut Road, as well as Parris Avenue and Ribaut Road – and Port Royal Police were on scene to manage traffic during the morning rush.
Jill Britton collects donations for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Relief Society Organization on Tuesday morning. The group is collecting necessities to be delivered to those who lost homes to a tornado early Monday morning in Colleton County. Photo by Lisa Clancy. And a portion of the Spanish Moss Trail was closed, according to the City of Beaufort/Port Royal Fire Department, between Brotherhood Road and Broome Lane, where a large tree came down on a power line. Aside from a few downed trees and standing water, there was no widespread damage.
How to help Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Relief Society Organization, working in conjunction with other churches in the town of Ridgeland, are collecting necessities to be delivered to those in the greatest need in the Walterboro/
SEE STORMS PAGE A4
Parris Island is the elephant in the room
M
onday was an anomaly over the past month and a half – there were no new cases of COVID-19 novel coronavirus reported for Beaufort County by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). The beat picked back up Tuesday with four more new cases. I would argue the beat is a lot faster. Most of us have no idea what the coronavirus situation is in Beaufort County. Not this writer and not the readers. All because of a 19-squaremile elephant in the room. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. As the coronavirus cases started to add up in Beaufort County and the
MIKE MCCOMBS
state, stories started to slip off the island of confirmed cases and quarantined recruits, Marines and staff. But the Marine Corps insisted there were no positive cases. It’s impossible to know what goes on behind the scenes. But only when The Island News presented specific details about specific personnel that
had tested positive was there an admission that they existed. Not long after the Corps released that two Marines had tested positive, S.C. DHEC began listing positive cases by zip code. And then as soon as it started, it stopped, citing privacy reasons. In the very first release, the numbers already betrayed Parris Island. Next to 29905, the zip code for Parris Island, there were three cases listed. While the base was still saying there were just two, publicly. Eventually, Governor Henry McMaster ordered DHEC to release updated zip code data. Here’s where things got interesting.
SEE MCCOMBS PAGE A2
By Mindy Lucas Despite the fact that several major health systems in South Carolina have released the numbers of patients they are treating for COVID-19, Beaufort Memorial Hospital in Beaufort has refused to release its numbers. For weeks, health officials across the nation have said to expect a surge in cases around mid-April, while here in South Carolina, officials with the Department of Health and Environment Control (DHEC) said the number of cases could peak in early May. However, when asked for the number of patients it is currently treating for COVID-19, Beaufort Memorial, a public hospital, emailed the following statement: “As a general rule we are not sharing details about patient case numbers, ICU bed occupancy, vent usage, etc., for the very reason that these numbers do and will continue to fluctuate,” the email read. “We also feel that without a great deal of context and commentary, this level of detail will only serve to raise more questions and speculation than answers.” The statement, attributed to the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer Kurt Gambla, was emailed to The Island News,
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE 4 more cases reported in Beaufort County The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) on Tuesday announced four new cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in Beaufort County, bringing the total to 198. Seven people have died in Beaufort County. Across the state, there were 115 new cases and 10 additional deaths reported on Tuesday. This brings the total number of people confirmed to have COVID-19 in South Carolina to 3,553 and those who have died to 97.
on Friday, April 10, after a reporter requested patient numbers for a second time in recent weeks. The hospital had seen an increase in cases in the first part of March, Dr. Gambla said, but had “remained pretty consistent since” with a “slight increase” in the number of critical care and progressive care units. He attributed the reason for the increase to the increased availability of testing and turnaround times at laboratories. “So where there may have
SEE SURGE PAGE A2
Need help? Want to help? Lowcountry organizations working to help those impacted by the economy By Mindy Lucas Some of the area’s leading social service organizations are stepping up to help those who have been impacted by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak. The lack of food or consistent access to enough food and money to pay for housing or rent are two of the most critical issues facing those in need right now, organization leaders said. “Those are probably the biggest followed by kids on free and reduced lunch,” said Chris Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry. The nonprofit works to raise and provide funds to organizations in Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper Counties.
The economic consequences of closures and layoffs due to the virus have caused a great deal of instability for both children and families, Want whether it’s to help? in the form of Need help? summer pro- Contact info grams for kids for how to that have been help and list of service cancelled or agencies and added stresses nonprofits in the home, helping residents, A3 Kerrigan said. “So how do we as a community fill that gap?” he said. The foundation recently created the Lowcountry Community COVID-19 Response Fund and established a $100,000 “challenge match.”
SEE HELP PAGE A3 We are. Accreditation
USING WHAT SHE LEARNED
GUARD YOUR OWN
Girl alerts father to apartment fire; City of Beaufort/Town of Port Royal Fire Department arrives within minutes.
Keeping older relatives safe from COVID-19.
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