COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - One of South Carolina’s major universities has a back-to-campus plan that cancels fall break next semester and ends in-person classes before Thanksgiving to avoid getting caught in a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Also on Monday, Gov. Henry McMaster agreed to give the General Assembly final approval on spending $1.9 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money, but asked lawmakers to act quickly after he and his emergency group responding to the pandemic issue their list of recommendations shortly.
The University of South Carolina said that by not including the typical four-day October break, students won’t be as likely to travel and potentially bring viruses back with them from far away places.
The decision to no longer have classes meet in person after Thanksgiving and have the final days of the semester and exams online is in anticipation of a second wave of coronavirus cases as the weather turns colder, university president Bob Caslen said Sunday in an open letter to the campus.
“Our best current modelling predicts a spike in cases of COVID-19 at the beginning of December, which also will likely coincide with traditional flu season,” Caslen said.
The fall semester at the University of South Carolina’s Columbia campus starts Aug. 20, with remote final exams from Dec. 7-14.
Clemson University has not announced its fall semester plans.
Also on Monday, barber shops, gyms, spas, tattoo parlors and other close contact business were allowed to reopen for the first time in nearly seven weeks.
There was a surge of shaggy customers. Apps for haircut chains like Sports Clips and Great Clips listed waits of at least two or three hours, with some backlogged for more than seven hours.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham was one of the first customers at his local Great Clips. The Republican posted before and after videos on Twitter. He had a mask hanging below his chin before he went inside, but didn’t wear it as he later spoke from the salon chair below his mask-wearing stylist.
“I feel like a new man. Thank you Henry McMaster,” Graham said.
South Carolina’s new guidelines for barbers strongly recommends masks for employees, but doesn’t mention them for customers. Great Clips asks customers to “please consider bringing a mask,” since many local authorities and some salons require customers to wear them inside.
McMaster signed a resolution Monday to allow the state to continue spending at current levels after June 30 if a new budget isn’t passed.
Tucked inside that bill passed last week was a requirement that the General Assembly have full authority over how to spend $1.9 billion in federal money to help with COVID-19. A previous, unapproved version of the bill had a small group of legislators checking McMaster’s plans for the money.
McMaster said his Accelerate SC reopening committee, which meets Tuesday, will soon issue recommendations for the money that the governor will review and send to the Legislature.
The money belongs to the people and not politicians and with deadlines approaching for local budgets, school districts and other things, lawmakers need to consider how to spend the money “expeditiously – but also wisely, transparently and with meticulous accountability,” McMaster wrote in his signing statement to the bill Monday.
“To that end – I ask that you call the General Assembly back into session soon after receiving these recommendations. Any delay will cost the people of our state the one thing they don’t have - time,” the governor wrote.
General Assembly leaders can call the Legislature back into a special session whenever they deem necessary under a different bill passed on its one-day session May 12.
There have been almost 8,950 cases of the coronavirus confirmed in South Carolina, and at least 391 deaths, according to an update Monday from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP. Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
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