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When Horry County Schools (HCS) opened their doors to students after the summer vacation last month, COVID-19 cases were climbing in the area.

Staff and teachers braced themselves for another pandemic-era school year, fearing the situation would be uncontrollable as masking and other precautions were largely optional, but trying to remain optimistic and excited to have students back in the building.

A month later, more than 2,000 students and over 200 staff members have gotten the coronavirus, according to HCS data. At one point, more than a quarter of the student body was in quarantine before the district shortened quarantine times.

In the school buildings, some students and staff wear masks while others go about their days bare-faced. In-person classes continue as parents get the dreaded call informing them their student needs to quarantine.

“I certainly thought that this could be an impending disaster,” St. James High School English teacher Jerry Moore recalled thinking on the first day of school. “And unfortunately so far, that’s the direction the data has gone.”

Some HCS staff members are now calling on the district to do more to control the pandemic.

Moore penned two letters provided to The Sun News asking for “significant changes.” One was addressed to HCS leadership, which has resisted implementing a mask requirement as cases rise due to a one-year law built into the state budget prohibiting districts from requiring face coverings. The other letter was written to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and the General Assembly, which is responsible for the proviso prohibiting mask mandates in schools.

“As it stands now, students sit in class not knowing when they will be called out and sent home,” Moore wrote to HCS leaders. “They go through their school days in an atmosphere of confusion, uncertainty, and fear. Teachers are asked to teach students in their rooms and at home simultaneously, not knowing which students will be in which situation on any given day.”

He argued that while HCS can’t control what goes on in the state government and acknowledged that state laws are restrictive when it comes to COVID protocols, the district is “just delaying the inevitable” circumstances of being forced out of classrooms if more safety precautions aren’t put in place.

HCS could lose funding if the district implements a mask mandate against state law, Superintendent Rick Maxey pointed out in a video message last week. The S.C. Supreme Court also ruled against the city of Columbia’s mask requirement in schools, deciding the General Assembly holds the power of the law, not local government, Maxey added.

For some teachers, like Sabina Lynskey, who works in child development at Carolina Forest Elementary, the funding should be secondary.

“You’re putting a number on the lives of human beings,” she told The Sun News. “We want our district to be run well, and we want our children to stay alive, our staff to be alive as well.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend universal masking in school buildings for everyone in school settings over the age of 2. At HCS, masks are encouraged, even though they’re not required, and HCS outlined sanitation and hygiene protocols in its plan for returning to in-person classes, spokesperson Lisa Bourcier said.

Another state law requires schools to offer five-day in-person instruction. That law was passed in April, when access to vaccinations was becoming more widespread and months before the delta variant combined with a relatively low vaccination rate caused case counts to jump in Horry County and across South Carolina. In HCS, five schools switched to distance learning temporarily as a result of rising COVID-19 cases, but have returned to the building as of Monday.

Last year, the district used a hybrid model of learning, where students went to class in person some days and attended class online other days to minimize crowding in school buildings. Under the law, that’s not possible this year.

Both Moore and Lynskey said they were worried about what could happen if more precautions aren’t put in place, and Moore wrote he and others were “willing to take the steps necessary to protect ourselves and our students.”

“It’s an act of courage, you have to be willing to say, ‘Now we’re going to do something we haven’t done before,’” Lynskey said.

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Nicholas made landfall as a category one hurricane overnight with winds of 75 mph on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula, about 10 miles west-southwest of Sargent Beach, Texas.

Now, Nicholas has weakened to a tropical storm and will continue to bring heavy rainfall and widespread flooding issues across southeastern Texas and Louisiana.

At 5 AM, the center of Tropical Storm Nicholas was located near latitude 29.3 North, longitude 95.6 West. Nicholas is moving toward the north-northeast near 9 mph. The storm should move more slowly to the northeast later today and then eastward by Wednesday over Louisiana. Little motion is anticipated on Thursday. Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 70 mph with higher gusts.

Nicholas should weaken further today and is forecast to become a tropical depression by Wednesday. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 125 miles from the center. A NOAA station at Galveston Bay, Texas recently reported a 1-minute sustained wind of 54 mph gusting to 68 mph.

Nicholas is expected to produce additional rainfall of 5 to 10 inches from the upper Texas coastal area into central to southern Louisiana, far southern Mississippi and far southern Alabama, with isolated storm totals of 20 inches across central to southern Louisiana. Life-threatening flash flooding impacts, especially in urbanized metropolitan areas, are possible across these regions. Widespread minor to isolated major river flooding is expected across portions of the upper Texas Gulf Coast and southern Louisiana and Mississippi.

ELSEWHERE IN THE TROPICS

A tropical wave located just west of the African coast is producing a large area of showers and thunderstorms that are showing signs of organization. Environmental conditions are forecast to be conducive for gradual development of this disturbance over the next several days, and a tropical depression is likely to form by the weekend while the system moves westward at about 15 mph across the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean. The chance of development remains high at 80% with this tropical wave coming off the coast of Africa.

An area of low pressure is expected to form by midweek a couple of hundred miles north of the southeastern or central Bahamas as a tropical wave interacts with an upper-level trough. Some gradual development of this system is forecast thereafter, and a tropical depression could form later this week while the system moves north-northwestward or northward across the western Atlantic. The chance of development continues at 60%.

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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Data from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce (MBACC) shows Summer 2021 was busier for hotels and resorts than summers past.

June, July and August lodging numbers in 2021 were at least 30% higher than 2020 and at least 24% higher than 2019, according to a news release from the MBACC. This data is the first official look at the entire summer season as a whole, whereas before individual weeks and holiday weekends were being compared.

Karen Riordan, MBACC president and CEO, said that the boom in tourism trickles down to just about everyone along the Grand Strand. She explained that the chamber continued with its marketing effort throughout the pandemic, and that might be part of the reason Myrtle Beach was so busy and a destination for so many this summer.

“I think it’s a combination of that pent up demand and us being in the right place at the right time with a welcoming message that really turned the corner for us,” Riordan said.

The trickle down effect was felt at area bars and restaurants as well as entertainment centers. Victor Shamah, owner of Duffy’s and The Bowery along Ocean Boulevard for the past 41 years, said business was up for his restaurants somewhere between 15% and 20%.

“This summer was better than the last few years by far,” Shamah said.

While business was up, staffing was down. Shamah said he had trouble all summer figuring out staffing.

He also dealt with supply issues from cups to chicken wings, he said. Shamah estimated business could have been better by an additional 10% if not for the shortages in labor and supply.

“It’s very stressful because not only the staff, but we could not even get the products we need from the suppliers to put it on our menu to deliver it to the customers,” Shamah said.

Shamah said customers were, for the most part, patient and understanding.

“It was really really hard to satisfy everybody even though the ones we had did bare with us and were good customers and some of our regulars did come back and waited without any stress at all,” Shamah said.

Riordan said Shamah’s restaurants were not the only ones held back by staffing issues this summer. She said most found a way to manage the shortage with the influx of visitors.

“For all those businesses that I talked to the did truly struggle with workforce this year not one of them told me they wanted less business,” Riordan said.

Riordan said Myrtle Beach has to find a way to attract more workers.

“What can we be doing to convince more of our high school students to take that part time job next year, next summer, our college students, even our seniors, our veterans,” Riordan asked.

The face mask question. It’s been on many parents’ minds lately.

Should my child wear a face mask to school? Do they have to? Will the school district mandate it? Will the state?

Now nearly a month into the school year, with 2,000-plus students and teachers in the district COVID-19-positive, answers to those questions are not entirely clear. The number of student cases in Horry County Schools so far has already surpassed last year’s total number of cases less than a month into in-person classes, and more school-aged kids and teens got COVID-19 in August than in any other month of 2021, data show.

But the South Carolina Dept. of Health and Environmental Control sought to clear up some of that confusion last week with a lengthy statement from agency director Dr. Edward Simmer.

It boils down to this: Yes, DHEC has concluded, it does possess the legal authority to mandate masks in public schools on a school level, a district level and the state level. That means, if the spread of COVID-19 is too great, DHEC could require that all students and teachers wear face coverings while in the building.

Simmer, however, said that DHEC was unlikely to issue any mandates, though, because of a one-year state budget proviso that bars school employees from enforcing a mask mandate. Essentially, that means that DHEC could mandate face masks for a particular school or district but almost no adults your child interacts with could tell them they have to wear one.

Here’s some excerpts of what Simmer said on Friday:

“We do have that authority (to issue mask mandates),” Simmer said, according to a release from DHEC. “However, I think there are some challenges practically to using it. Certainly trying to do a statewide order would be very difficult, at best, because the situation at every school district is different and trying to write one order that would fit every school district would be, I think, next to impossible.

Simmer added: “I’ve talked with our team, and we don’t think there’s a good way to do a statewide order that really fits every school district.”

“I think the proviso is pretty clear,” Simmer said. “Proviso 1.108 is very clear that we cannot use school district personnel or anyone funded with state funds to enforce a requirement to wear masks. Which then prompts the question, ‘Well, then, who would?,’ because obviously who’s mostly watching the children are the teachers, the principals and other people in the school, all of whom are funded with state funds.”

“I don’t believe it’s appropriate to write an order you can’t enforce,” he said.

Currently, said DHEC spokesperson Laura Renwick, the agency advises all schools to have a face covering mandate in place until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the district isn’t in a high-transmission area, or if 75% or more of staff and students are vaccinated.

Horry County Schools does not currently have a face mask mandate in place. The fourth-largest school district in the state, Horry Schools had more than a quarter of its student body in quarantine earlier this month before altering its quarantine protocol to shorten the amount of time asymptomatic and COVID-negative students were out of class.

Even though DHEC can technically issue face mask mandates, it can’t enforce them. Renwick said any mask mandates would have to be issued in collaboration with the district.

“...We would work closely with school officials before issuing such an order and would need to determine an effective enforcement mechanism,” she said.

While some districts have attempted to defy the proviso and require masks in schools anyway, Horry County Schools hasn’t done the same, and has been staunch in its stance that masks won’t be required as long as the proviso prohibiting enforcement of a mask mandate is in place. The district could lose funding if it violates this law.

“If Horry County Schools were denied these state funds for violating Proviso 1.108, we have to ask ourselves, ‘Where will we get nearly a quarter of a billion dollars locally to operate our public schools for the 2021-22 school year?’” Superintendent Rick Maxey said in a message addressing parents and the public last week.

Shem Creek is one of Charleston’s most popular and picturesque waterways. Known for its mouthwatering brunches, gorgeous sunsets and wide variety of water sport activities, it’s easy to see why Shem Creek is a hotspot for visitors and locals alike.

Located in the heart of Mount Pleasant, this little gem is a must-do on any trip to Charleston. Whether you’re in the mood for fresh seafood straight from the shrimp boats or a leisurely walk on the boardwalk, Shem Creek won’t disappoint.

History of Shem Creek

Gazing at the shrimp boats set against a stunning sunset, it’s difficult to imagine that Shem Creek was used for anything other than the fishing industry. The waterway has been in use for centuries, but its previous uses span far beyond shrimping.

In the mid-17th century, Shem Creek was inhabited by Sewee Indians, a tribe that primarily lived in South Carolina and may likely have been the first to greet the new settlers in Charleston upon their arrival in 1670. The creek’s name is derived from the Sewee word ‘shem-ee,’ although its exact meaning isn’t certain.

The name would change numerous times as the land passed hands from one owner to the next. When Barbadian colonist Captain George Dearsley owned the lands and waterway in the late 17th century, the creek was called Dearsely’s Creek. It’s believed that shipbuilding became the waterway’s main function during this time.

In addition to shipbuilding, Shem Creek has also been home to a distillery, a lime kiln, a factory and a water-driven rice and saw mill. It wasn’t until the 1930s that shrimping became the creek’s main industry.

Modern Day Shem Creek

Take a drive around the Shem Creek area today and you’ll find its unique history reflected in some of its street signs. Streets such as Sewee Circle and Oldwanus Drive are named for the early Sewee inhabitants, while Magwood Lane is named after the notable Captain William C. Magwood, who introduced the first shrimp trawler in the 1930s.

Historic Shem Creek is now considered a crown jewel of Charleston. Its healthy waters and marshlands provide more than just panoramic views and wildlife viewing opportunities; they’re also home to the shrimp, crab and shellfish that sustain the local commercial fishing industry.

The waterway also boasts an endless number of activities for all to enjoy. From standup paddleboard tours to savory seafood by the waterfront, there is always fun to be had at Shem Creek.

Things to Do

If noshing on a crab cake sandwich after a long day out on the water sounds like your ideal day, you won’t be disappointed with Shem Creek. From watching bottlenose dolphins swim in the water to catching a jaw-dropping sunset from the view of your paddleboard, there are an endless number of things to do both in and out of the water.

Water Sports

Didn’t spot any dolphins from your beach vacation rental? You’ll have plenty of opportunities at Shem Creek.

Take a kayak eco-tour and there is a good chance you’ll spot a pod of dolphins frolicking in the waterway. You can also rent a paddleboard and simultaneously take in the scenic views, look for dolphins and get in a workout.

If you don’t have your own gear, Coastal Expeditions — located near Shem Creek Bar & Grill — can hook you up with a rental kayak, SUP or boat charter. Consider renting for a half-day to give yourself enough time to paddle past the amazing waterfront homes and experience the stunning beauty of the marsh.

Walk on the Boardwalk

Take a relaxing walk on the Shem Creek Boardwalk and marvel at the stunning views of downtown Charleston, Crab Bank Island and Fort Sumter. Along the way, there are historic markers for visitors to learn more about the history and ecology of Shem Creek.

The end of the boardwalk features a beautiful gazebo that provides the perfect place to pause and take in the sights and sounds of Shem Creek. You can watch as boats and paddle boarders come and go against a stunning sunset backdrop

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