On this special edition of the South Carolina Lede, host Gavin Jackson takes you to Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital in Georgetown County to speak with the healthcare workers at the frontlines of the COVID-19 surge in South Carolina.

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for August 6, 2020, we bring you updates from State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman on school reopenings, virtual classrooms, truancy, and more. Also on this episode: a look at how Americans feel about the November election; the state of minority owned small businesses; when high school sports could resume; and more.

Right now, around the country, communities are asking hard questions about the role of police – does policing need an overhaul? How can officers better serve communities? And how can departments ratchet down tensions that can lead to aggression by and against police officers?

Well before the flashpoint that was the George Floyd incident, scholars and social reformers were posing an answer to questions like these: female officers.

Even though the nation is in the midst of the COVID pandemic, other needs go on.  A big one is the need for blood.  According to Red Cross spokesman Ben Williamson, hundreds of blood drives have been cancelled or rescheduled by the pandemic in the last few months.   As a result, thousands of pints of blood have been lost to hospitals.  

Lee Ann Bain talks excitedly as she darts from the sun to the shade along Charleston's sweltering city streets.  There's hardly a bead of sweat forming on her face.  Bain knows how to beat the heat.  She's been giving walking tours for 11 years.

Bain remembers studying to become a certified guide.  There was just a small paragraph about the Grimke sisters.  But it catapulted from the page.

"I was like, excuse me who are these ladies?" Bain says.  "I've never ever heard of them before."