SPORTS: S.C. High School League pushes back fall season. PAGE A6
JULY 23–29, 2020 WWW.YOURISLANDNEWS.COM
COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
Teachers remain concerned over in-person instruction By Mindy Lucas Bluffton High School teacher Michelle Gordon thinks a return to in-person, five-days-a week instruction this fall could be too soon, especially given the high numbers of Covid-19 cases Beaufort County is currently seeing. After hearing S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster’s call to reopen South Carolina’s schools with face-to-face instruction
last week, Gordon’s response was, “not yet,” she said. It’s a phrase she often uses when her students say they can’t do something or they’ll never understand the concepts she teaches as a math teacher. “So I will say, ‘Not yet, but as you continue to work at it … you’ll get it,’” she said. Like Gordon, many teachers across the state are now
questioning whether the governor and other elected officials are truly “getting it.” After McMaster’s press conference last week, teachers took to social media to express their concerns – and much of it was not good. According to analysis conducted by the University of South Carolina’s Social Media Insights Lab, an immediate opposition from teachers,
school administrators and parents could be seen on social media. An analysis of 915 comments in the days following the press conference, found significantly less support for reopening than what the lab had seen earlier in the month. Only four percent favored reopening while eight times as many comments, 31 percent, were negative.
“Conversations changed when the governor outlined his plan,” said Reopening Jack Landess, plan says an Insights Lab District it could still analyst on the start with lab’s website. all-virtual “The posts we instruction, page A6. saw showed a lot of frustration, with fear that in-person classes will en-
COVID-19
SEE TEACHERS PAGE A6
BMH bending not breaking By Mike McCombs As of Monday morning, Beaufort Memorial Hospital was treating 29 positive COVID-19 patients. The Intensive Care Unit was full with 12 patients – six of those positive for COVID-19 and three of those on ventilators. “It will be different tomorrow,” BMH Spokesperson Courtney McDermott said, noting that patient numbers fluctuate every day. McDermott said that last week, there was an increase in younger patients in the age group of 21–30.
Beaufort Memorial will host free testing event at Battery Creek From staff reports Beaufort Memorial (BMH) will host a free COVID-19 testing event from 7 to 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 29 at Battery Creek High School at 1 Blue Dolphin Drive in Beaufort. All testing is on a firstcome, first-served basis. A physician’s order is not required. BMH staff will collect test specimens using kits supplied by DHEC, which will run all tests through its state laboratory and communicate the results to BMH. BMH staff will notify patients about their results within 48 hours after DHEC delivers them. Participants should expect to receive results within 5 to 7 days after test collection. The BMH Infection Pre-
danger teachers and school personnel as well as enhance the spread of COVID-19.” South Carolina Superintendent of Education, Molly Spearman, said while every South Carolina parent must be given the option of both virtual learning and face-to-
vention team will call anyone who tests positive and provide detailed instructions for self-isolation, selfcare and home disinfection. Those who test negative will receive a text notification or phone call. On his Facebook page, State Senator Tom Davis gave a summary of the free testing event held Wednesday, July 15 at Lady’s Island Elementary School. According to Davis, Chair of the Re-Open S.C. Select Subcommittee, there were 394 people tested with 46 testing positive – a positive rate of 11.6 percent. All of those tested were advised of results over the weekend, within 5 days.
SEE BENDING PAGE A5 THE NUMBERS Totals As of Monday, July 20 S.C. confirmed cases: 71,213 S.C. probable cases: 232 S.C. confirmed deaths: 1,147 S.C. probable deaths: 17 Beaufort County cases: 2,517 Beaufort County deaths: 31* *Total from Beaufort Co. Coroner’s Office, not DHEC
SEE TESTING PAGE A4
See more totals and last week’s numbers on A5.
‘Impromptu’ concert breaks out at Beaufort Sandbar
By Mike McCombs For the past four years during Water Festival, dozens of boats and hundreds of revelers have crowded around a barge at the sandbar in the middle of the Beaufort River for a concert. This year, however, musician Pat Cooper canceled the July 18 concert, which is not affiliated with the Beaufort Water Festival, because of the COVID-19 surge in South Carolina. But on Saturday, boaters took things into their own hands, flock-
ing to the Beaufort Sandbar for an improvised concert event of their own. “Our officers did report that a number of boats at the Beaufort Sandbar did have people aboard playing music – either live or through sound systems,” S.C. Department of Natural Resources spokesperson David Lucas said, “and the result was that throughout the afternoon on Saturday, there were multiple sort of impromptu mini-concerts going on at any given time that were spread out around the vicinity of the Sand-
bar, with smaller numbers of boats or people watching at each, rather than one large organized stage and crowd as in years past.” According to Lucas, DNR had additional boats scheduled to patrol in Beaufort in anticipation of the Water Festival and the Sandbar concert. When both were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, DNR kept the patrols on the schedule anyway. “Our reasoning being that many people had already made travel plans, reservations, etc., and that as
a result, boating traffic would still be somewhat heavier than normal this weekend despite the cancellations,” Lucas said. Lucas said that assumption “proved to be correct,” as the boating traffic was high, though not as high as “during a typical Festival/ Concert weekend in years past.” Though he couldn’t say how many, Lucas said DNR “did issue a larger number of citations – both warning tickets and summonses – than (it) would on a typical weekend for a wide range of boating safety
issues, including two BUI arrests.” “Thankfully, there were no fatalities or serious boating accidents to report,” Lucas said. As for the concert, Lucas said none of the tickets written had anything to do with the gathering at the sandbar. All Executive Orders previously issued by Gov. Henry McMaster related to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted some time ago. “Boating activity is essentially back to where it was before the pandemic, as far as regulations go,” Lucas said.
Boats flocked on Saturday, July 18 to the Beaufort Sandbar, where there were several smaller concerts throughout the afternoon. Submitted photo.
DEBUT
FILMS IN THEIR HONOR
Beaufort History Museum opens Fort Fremont exhibit.
Film Festival seeks films that honor military, police, first responders.
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