COLUMBIA, S.C. — As Governor Henry McMaster works on when South Carolina will reopen its doors, more than two dozen members of his task force are coming up with a plan.
The AccelerateSC task force met on Thursday afternoon, to discuss where the state stands amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Just looking at the talent and experience and knowledge and understanding here represented in this room gives me great confidence, once again, in the people of South Carolina and what we are ale to do," says Governor McMaster.
The task force is expected to create an economic revitalization plan, that consists of five components: Response, Protection, Governance, Resources and Information. More on those components can be found here.
Currently the state has seen drastic drops in the economy, including in the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism.
Director Duane Parrish explained that the state's $24 billion tourism business is expected to be cut in half.
"As of April 22nd, 571 hotels were closed in South Carolina," says Dir. Parrish. "That's almost 50 percent of our inventory of hotels. Fortunately, over the past few days, a few have reopened, but we are still dramatically closed up in terms of our hotels."
They are working on a campaign, "Dream Now, Discover Later," that will be used to drive up consumer confidence.
"We need to make it okay for people to travel again, to shop again, to do those things that bring our economy back," says Dir. Parrish.
Education was also a topic of discussion. On April 22nd, Governor McMaster and Department of Education Superintendent Molly Spearman announced that schools would remain closed for the remainder of the school year.
Superintendent Spearman explained that she will need AccelerateSC's help, along with her own task force, to determine when and how students will return to school in the fall.
"Reopening school, it's very overwhelming," says Spearman. "But I believe we got the creative minds. There's no way that we can bring back children to the same type of setting that we already had."
Some of the challenges with homeschooling students right now is that there are several districts who are still using pen and paper to complete assignments. That is because of the digital divide facing rural areas around the state.
"We've got places in Lower Richland, less than ten miles from here, where folks don't have broadband," says Spearman. "It's not just Allendale. It's not just Northern Saluda County, where I live. It's all over."
As far as unemployment, the numbers continue to grow. Between March 15-April 18, 2020, there were 341,743 unemployment claims.
The agency is planning pay between $60 and $80 million per week going forward while unemployment remains heightened by the pandemic.
Governor McMaster remains optimistic that the task force will be able to bring the Palmetto State back, but there will be a new normal.
"We are going to get information, advice and guidance from the very talented people in this room as well as some different groups that are forming in cities and certain professions to figure out the best details of how to get South Carolina back to work, strong to regain our competitive advantages that we had when the virus came along, without putting lives at risk."