COLUMBIA, S.C. — AccelerateSC has come up with 41 recommendations when it comes to opening South Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic.
All five task force committees -- Response, Protection, Governance, Resources and Information -- highlighted several recommendations for their respective areas.
Response
The Response Committee has given guidelines for businesses in their reopening process. That includes guidelines for restaurants, manufacturers, gyms, athletic fields, golf courses, hotels, close-contact services, salons, childcare facilities attractions and faith-based organizations.
All of the guidelines can be found here on the AccelerateSC website.
One recommendation suggests increasing consumer confidence by asking businesses to self promote, demonstrating that they are following CDC guidelines.
"There are people who still have a crisis of confidence and we need to help them to let them know that they can be secure, that they can be safe, that they can go back to their daily lives," says James Burns, executive director of AccelerateSC. "That is our obligation as leaders."
Protection
The Protection Committee dealt with increasing testing across the state. So far, DHEC has tested more than 2% of the state's population in the month of May.
Continuing to test at risk populations is another one of the recommendations. DHEC has been working to test staff and residents living in the state's 194 nursing homes.
DHEC and employers are also preparing to change up testing strategies as the antibody testing market grows.
Governance
The Governance Committee focused on helping educational institutions, local municipalities and first responders.
One of the recommendations included implementing social distancing strategies at detention facilities in order to reduce the spread in the state's prison population.
The state is also working on a PPE stockpile, with the help of local manufactures and the State Emergency Management Division.
Resources
The Resources component deals with allocating money associated with the CARES Act funding. The state received $1.9 billion in funding in the CARES Act.
They are working to bring in a third-party grants manager to help allocate that funding.
One of the recommendations was also to help replenish the state's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the trust fund had more than $1.1 billion. It now sits at around $800 million dollars.
That money comes from taxes from businesses to help with unemployment benefits.
"I am asking the General Assembly that a large portion of this $1.9 billion should go to replenish that trust fund at least to bring it up to a reasonable level, instead of taxing the very businesses that we are trying to help," says Governor McMaster.
Information
The Information Committee now has a call center for people who have questions about COVID-19 and the state's efforts to fight the virus.
All of that again, can be found on the AccelerateSC website.
These recommendations will now head to the General Assembly for approval. They are expected to receive the recommendations next week.