Schools get the brunt of latest COVID wave in South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — In the past few weeks, South Carolina has set records for COVID-19 hospitalizations and new cases have approached peak levels of last winter. Classes, schools and entire districts have gone virtual, leaving parents frustrated and teachers quitting weeks into the school year.

Since ending South Carolina’s state of emergency on June 7, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster has maintained that parents alone should decide if children wear masks in schools, even as the state's new cases soared from 150 a day on average to more than 5,000.

“We spiked the football too early. Instead of continuing to listen to medical professionals and interpreting the data, he has been guided by Republican Governors Association talking points,” Democratic state Sen. Marlon Kimpson of Charleston said of McMaster.

The Republican-dominated Legislature added the provision that effectively stopped most school mask mandates despite guidance from their own state health and education officials, who have said the statewide mask ban in schools took away one of their best tools to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Now teachers, students and parents are struggling with the fallout as more young people contract the delta variant, forcing nearly two dozen schools and two entire districts — a number that shifts daily, usually upward — back to online learning within a month of returning in person.

Teacher Nicole Walker said a ripple goes through classes at her high school each time the phone rings and a student is sent to the nurse: Does their friend have COVID-19? Will they have to quarantine? The disruptions breed fear and uncertainty in the classroom, she said.

“This is one of those times where the adults should’ve risen to the occasion and been able to do the right thing and really been able...