16-Year-Old Dies From COVID-19 As South Carolina Schools Reopen For Classes

A 16-year-old student from Lancaster County School District in South Carolina died from COVID-19.

The school district said in a statement that it “continues to follow guidance from the CDC and SC DHEC. It is the district’s priority to keep students safe. Our thoughts and prayers are with the student’s family.”

Lancaster County School District Superintendent Jonathan Phipps told CNN that the school district has already had 21 students infected with the virus, and 58 students are in quarantine.

The district's fall semester started Monday.

Phipps said that 20 staff members have also tested positive for COVID-19 and 40 are quarantining. He added that a number of faculty have called in with virus symptoms. He also said that he expects the number of positive COVID cases to increase.

“We are starting school with classes being taught by substitute teachers, administrators are stretched for supervision, buses are doing double routes, maintenance workers are working over(time) to cover those out and we canceled last week's preseason football game at one of our high schools due to eight positive cases with our players," Phipp said.

Face mask mandates are prohibited in South Carolina schools due to a May executive order signed by Gov. Henry McMaster, who has also pushed for in-person learning. McMaster has said that state funds will not be used to enforce a mask mandate.

As of Monday, the Department of Health and Environmental Control in South Carolina reported 2,541 new COVID cases, bring the state’s total to 543,603 positive cases of the virus. A total of 17 new COVID-19 deaths were reported, with 8,910 total deaths from the virus in the state, according to data from DHEC.

The agency said that at least 10 people under the age of 20 have died from COVID-19 in South Carolina.