At a Special City Council Meeting held on June 30, 2020, City of Hartsville City Council passed a resolution to encourage the use of face masks or coverings in Hartsville to help combat the spread of COVID-19. This resolution passed with a vote of 7-0 as all council members were in favor of taking measures to express the importance of face masks as a part of COVID-19 response. As the resolution reads, City Council finds it vitally important that individuals work together to decrease the widespread proliferation of COVID-19 among citizens of the City.

City officials have been in communication with local health care providers to seek their advice and input on the current state of COVID-19 in Darlington County. While this resolution does not mandate that everyone wear masks, it does encourage and emphasize the importance of mask wearing when in public. The resolution outlines circumstances in which citizens should wear a face mask including:

  • Inside any building which is open to the public;
  • Waiting to enter any building which is open to the public;
  • Interacting with other people in outdoor spaces, including but not limited to curbside pickup, delivery, and service calls;
  • Engaging in business activities in public, commercial, or industrial spaces;
  • Utilizing public or commercial transportation services; or
  • Walking or operating in any public, commercial, or industrial area where maintaining a distance of six feet between other persons at all times is not possible.

Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center has already agreed to provide 5,000 cloth masks to members of the community. Details on distribution of these masks will be provided as they are available.

City of Hartsville Public Information Officer, Lauren Baker commented, “As the numbers of positive COVID-19 cases rise across our state, City Council felt that by passing a resolution such as this, more residents would follow the guidance by the CDC, SCDHEC, and our local healthcare providers. This is an important step to ensuring that we can keep Hartsville residents safe and hopefully minimize the spread of COVID-19.”