Gov. Henry McMaster to SC business community: 'We need to reopen'

Gov. Henry McMaster said Upstate business leaders are feeling confident in their future amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

McMaster made a stop in Greenville Friday to participate in a round table discussion with the Upstate SC Alliance. The meeting was closed to the public, but McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross answered questions from the media as the meeting let out.

McMaster referenced the 2.5 million new jobs the U.S. economy gained in May, which he said is an indicator that people across the nation and South Carolina are feeling comfortable getting back to regular activities despite the lingering presence of COVID-19.

"We need to reopen. We need to be careful. We need to be sure to let people know that the virus is still here, but you can't restrict business," he said. "Business is as part of public health as economic health as well as physical health and mental health and emotional hearth."

A couple hours after he spoke, state health officials announced their highest total of COVID-19 cases in a day to date, but McMaster said South Carolina has taken a "very careful path" by reducing activities to the bare minimum weeks ago, which led to allowing businesses and activities to reopen now.

Ross said the public nationwide has been "flooding" businesses as doors re-open that were once closed at the start of the pandemic. He said the economy has shown resiliency throughout shutdowns and restrictions on activities.

"Americans were getting cabin fever by being stuck at home," he said.

While more businesses re-open data from the Department of Health and Environmental Control show increases in positive cases in recent days with Greenville leading the state on new cases for the past five consecutive days.

More:Coronavirus ZIP code data reveals Greenville's hardest hit. Black, Hispanic areas suffer most

State health officials attribute the increases to a general spike in testing, though some Greenville County leaders also believe the rise is attributed to poor social distancing efforts.

McMaster said the testing alone is what has drawn up the numbers.

"There was under testing. We didn't have the materials to conduct the tests before," he said. "They were limited to those people who showed some symptoms. It's just the opposite of now. Now we have about 200 sites around the state about 140 of them are brick and mortar places."

He said another 60 testing locations are mobile sites that residents can find by going to DHEC's website.

"There's an enormous amount of testing going on so of course the numbers are going to go up."

Ross described the Upstate SC Alliance as an "optimistic crowd."

"There was no one there who was saying gloom and doom," he said.

Daniel J. Gross is an investigative watchdog reporter focusing on public safety and law enforcement for The Greenville News. Reach him at dgross@greenvillenews.com or on Twitter @danieljgross.