What you need to know: S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster urged South Carolina’s leaders to hurry their communities back to normal by wrapping up their remaining COVID-19 restrictions during a news conference in Columbia Wednesday.
McMaster said the point of developing and fast-tracking vaccines was to get back to normal. ““We now have three vaccines available and any South Carolinian can get one,” McMaster said on Twitter Wednesday evening. “Local cities and counties need to drop any remaining restrictions they have in place. It’s time to wrap this up or I will do it for them!”
Despite his numerous calls for both schools and local governments to lift restrictions and mandates, the governor’s own power to remove restrictions imposed by local leaders remains unclear.
Latest COVID-19 data
South Carolina health officials reported 570 confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Friday, with 3 confirmed deaths.
With 19,354 tests reported Friday, 4.9% were positive.
Confirmed cases in S.C.: 481,592 (+570)
Total positive cases in Charleston County: 42,727 (+112)
Total positive cases in Berkeley County: 17,334 (+74)
Total positive cases in Dorchester County: 17,602 (+104)
Deaths in S.C. from COVID-19: 8,359 (+3)
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