Beaufort City Council will hold an emergency meeting at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 29th, to vote on an emergency ordinance to require mandatory face coverings for the public in buildings within City limits that are open to the public. The ordinance would also require that employees in such establishments wear a mask.
The ordinance says:
All persons entering any building open to the public in the City must wear a face covering while inside the building.
All restaurants, retail establishments of every description, salons, grocery stores, and pharmacies in the municipal limits of the City shall require their employees to wear a Face Covering at all times that the employees are in any area where the general public is allowed or when the employees must be in close proximity to one another. This requirement also applies to all persons providing or utilizing public or commercial transportation, including tours; and all businesses or employees while interacting with people in outdoor spaces, including, but not limited to, curbside pickup, delivery, and service calls.
If passed, the ordinance would become effective 11:59 p.m. June 30.
The City of Beaufort mask ordinance is being considered as cases of Covid-19 continue to increase quickly in both South Carolina and Beaufort County. As of June 26, Beaufort County had 30 new cases in a 24-hour period, bringing to total number of cases in the county since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,008. Beaufort Memorial Hospital CEO Russell Baxley also recently reiterated how important it is for people to wear masks, as the hospital has seen an influx of new patients.
The emergency meeting will be conducted electronically via Zoom and live-streamed on the City’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/CityBeaufortSC/ at 10am on Monday morning.
Public comment about mandatory mask wearing in Beaufort can be made via Facebook, or emailed ahead of the meeting to City Clerk, Ivette Burgess, at iburgess@cityofbeaufort.org
See the meeting agenda here: https://bit.ly/3eQf1Q0
