COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed an extension of the state of emergency.
McMaster signed a 15 day extension of the order Monday afternoon on the day the previous state emergency order was set to expire. By law, South Carolina governors can only issue a state of emergency in 15 day increments, and must decided at the end of them if they're still necessary.
“South Carolina continues to fight this deadly virus with every asset and resource available,” said Gov. Henry McMaster. “While we are making progress, we must remain vigilant with expanding prevention and testing efforts. Our state is also facing an economic disruption and emergency the likes of which we’ve never seen, and we are working tirelessly to get our businesses back up and running and our people back to work as soon and as safely as possible.”
In doing so, that means any executive orders signed during the state of emergency, including the home or work order (the state's version of a stay at home) stays in effect. However, McMaster could rescind any parts of the order at any time.
"It does not lock those orders in," McMaster explained. "We could change them at any time. Could be tomorrow."
That's what he's done over the last week and a half, as he cancelled or amended orders, which then allowed retail store to reopen and local authorities to have the power to reopen state beaches.
McMaster first issued a state of emergency back on March 13. The statutory power allows McMaster to do things such as call up the National Guard for response, suspend regulations, apply for federal assistance, and put in rules or regulations to deal with the emergency. The state's price gouging law, for instance, only goes into effect during a state of emergency.
The decision comes on the same day McMaster held another meeting of his AccelerateSC task force. That group is supposed to come up with ways to get the state's economy up and running safely.
McMaster said he wants to get the economy going "sooner rather than later" but do so without seriously endangering public health. He's stated goal is to get the economy "humming again" by June.