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Emergency ‘Stay Home’ Order to Take Effect in Columbia on March 29

By March 27, 2020No Comments

Columbia City Council has declared an emergency order enacting a Stay Home Stay Safe order, which will become effective on Sunday, March 29 at 12:01 a.m. Ordinance 2020-034 was discussed and voted on in a City Council session held at 2:00 pm today, March 26.

According to the ordinance, because “Covid-19 is now aggressively spreading across the state with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (“SCDHEC”) confirming the localized person-to-person spread of COVID-19 in South Carolina, which indicates a significantly increasing risk of exposure and infection to City of Columbia residents and creating an extreme public health risk,” then “it is imperative that residents and non-residents of this great City shelter at home, unless providing or requiring an essential service, (and) remain at a safe distance of at least six (6) feet from others while in public.”

Columbia City Council has determined a list of essential services, which is included in the ordinance, and includes health care operations, infrastructure operations, manufacturing, retail and service operations, as well as media, financial and professional services, commercial residential services and others.

Citizens are encouraged to enjoy outdoor activities, but follow these guidelines specified in the ordinance: “Individuals should limit outdoor recreational activities to those that allow for social distancing of at least six feet, do not entail coming into close contact with other people or involve the sharing of equipment.”

The ordinance with the full list of exempted essential services is attached, and can also be viewed at the City of Columbia website by clicking here.