North Charleston officials now require everyone to wear masks or face coverings in all N. Charleston city buildings

North Charleston, South Carolina – People are still divided over the mask mandate and requirements and whether such a measure will help the state to slow down the spread of the Covid-19.

The recent surge in cases as a result of the Delta variant forces everyone to take precaution measures such as social distancing and wearing masks.

However, the letter seems to be impossible in most of the situations since South Carolina has a state law that bans mask mandate and similar pandemic measures.

Despite the state law, North Charleston officials announced on Monday that everyone who will visit North Charleston city buildings is required to wear mask or face covering.

As of now, the requirement will only apply for North Charleston city buildings and won’t extend to private businesses. However, the city officials encourage every business owner to adopt all or part of the measures that were already enforced during the pandemic in order to prevent further surge in cases.

All 46 South Carolina counties are now considered in a high transmission rate for COVID-19, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Charleston County has an incident rate of 809.7 per 100,000; DHEC considers a high incidence rate to be greater than 200 per 100,000.

The Delta variant increased the number of cases in the country and almost every state recorded serious increase in daily cases and hospitalizations in the last few weeks.

DHEC said over the past two weeks, Charleston County alone has reported 3,331 cases of COVID-19. That figure includes 2,343 cases detected through PCR tests and an additional 988 cases detected through rapid tests, according to DHEC’s website.