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Professionals move with caution regarding declaring the pandemic over.
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President Joe Biden caused a stir in a “60 Minutes” interview on Sept. 18 when he declared that the covid-19 pandemic is over.PolitiFact has been tracking a campaign promise Biden made in 2020 that is closely related, but distinct, from what Biden told “60 Minutes.” During the presidential campaign, Biden said, “I’m never going to raise the white flag and surrender. We’re going to beat this virus. We’re going to get it under control, I promise you. “Biden is on safer linguistic ground with his promise to get covid “under control” than saying “the pandemic is over.”
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When South Carolina announced the first two coronavirus cases on March 6, 2020, rural Kershaw County was a surprising name on the list. But within days, Camden — a historic town of deep pockets, horse races and galas about 30 minutes northeast of the state capital — had become the unlikely ground zero for South Carolina's COVID-19 outbreak.
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School is supposed to teach kids a thing or two. Pandemic-era schooling's mix of in-class and in-home learning, however, taught them something people don't usually figure out until a lot later – who they really are. Part of South Carolina Public Radio's occasional series 'diSConnected.'
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Food banks around the state are rewiring how they operate as shortages in just about everything keep supplies low.
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Spartanburg's W. Woodward Funeral Home has been a community mainstay for over a hundred years. During the pandemic funeral directors there have had to get creative with live streams and webcasts, what they did to help families mourn outside in tents, in newly-built open-air sites, beside gravesides — mixing grief with newer fixtures at a funeral: masks and distance.
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Not all pandemic victims walk on two legs. Four-legged victims are flooding area animal shelters. The impact goes beyond finding homes for dogs. Staff at shelters in Abbeville and Greenwood are squeezed for time to work with animals to assure they remain adoptable. Finding homes for humans is part of the problem. Eviction moratoriums started expiring in August.
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South Carolina students will again be required to wear masks on school buses starting Monday as COVID-19 cases among children and students are rising rapidly. The state Education Department told schools in July they did not have to make students on buses wear masks. But the agency changed its mind in a letter Thursday, bringing it into line with federal health rules about masks on buses.
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A growing number of school districts in South Carolina are defying a provision from state lawmakers banning mandatory face coverings for students. But not all. Many districts are afraid the General Assembly will withhold state budget money if they do so. Lawmakers passed the ban mostly along party lines in June, when the state was seeing 20 times fewer new COVID-19 cases. Many districts and some lawmakers with second thoughts hope a state Supreme Court challenge to the mask rule will make things clearer. But there is no indication when the justices might rule.
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The end of tenant protections on July 31 has raised concerns that thousands of South Carolina residents will be unable to afford their monthly rent and face eviction. The state and its largest counties have set aside $346 million to help with outstanding rent, utility payments and other expenses, but extensive federal rules have slowed the flow of money to those in need. Many South Carolina tenants at risk of being evicted will be left to find a new home in a tough rental market where almost one in four renters spend more than half their income on rent.