Top business leaders feel good about our pandemic response progress.

Lou Kennedy, CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals, and Bobby Williams, SC Restaurant and Lodging Association Chairman serve on Gov. Henry McMaster’s AccelerateSC task force to help shape public planning.

“Slowly but surely more restaurants are beginning to open and customers to feel more comfortable,” said Williams, CEO of Lizard’s Thicket restaurants.

“It’s going to be a couple more weeks until we get back to full swing.”

Williams said he expects McMaster to reopen amusement parks, and low-contact attractions like go-cart tracks will likely be the 1st.

Larger theme parks will remain on the waiting list.

Close-contact spas and hair salons, gyms and pools reopened Monday.

Conflicting needs

Lou Kennedy of Nephron said her AccelerateSC group pulled ideas from guidelines that allowed many groups to operate in the shutdown.

Kennedy commended McMaster’s tiered approach, especially in the work of essential businesses like hers.

She noted the importance of juggling public health concerns with economic and mental health issues.

Kennedy said, “You have people who are depressed, who are out of work. That lends itself to a different kind of illness.

“It’s not just about covid-19 but depression or anxiety and how do we make the economic health get pumped back up so they can get out of those doldrums.”

Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, praised the state for its strategies.

“You have put things in place that I think would optimize your capability of reopening,” he told Sen. Tim Scott’s covid-19 hearing

“I would almost want to clone that and make sure other people can see what you’ve been doing.”

Recovery rate up

Department of Health & Environmental Control officials reported 84% of 6,043 patients have recovered, up from 76% last week.

DHEC reported the county has 518 confirmed cases but 3,182 unconfirmed cases and 27 have died.

Columbia and Richland County reported 1,250 confirmed cases but 7,679 unconfirmed cases.

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