Governor McMaster,
You are failing to protect our children by not implementing a statewide mask mandate in schools or, at the very least, allowing local governments to mandate masks themselves.  We urge you to call an emergency session to revisit the proviso in order to allow local governments to address the use of masks as needed in their area. You are leaving thousands of immunocompromised children and adults vulnerable by not taking the simplest of safety precautions.  It is abhorrent that you would punish our children by taking away funding for their schools if mask mandates are put in place.  Our children are the ones who will ultimately suffer and it shows us that you truly do not have their best interest at heart.  What is the harm in mandating masks until those under 12 are able to get the vaccine?  As of today (8/11) almost 200,000 kids have tested positive for COVID in just the last three weeks and you are sending our kids back to school unprotected right now.
The CDC, The American Academy of Pediatrics and your very own DHEC recommend kids wear masks in schools.  Our local doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are saying the same thing.  Why aren't you?  The scientific evidence that masks work is overwhelming, but in order to work as effectively as possible everyone has to wear them.  Masks are more than considerably less effective when one person is wearing a mask in a room full of people who are not.  You say you care about the mental health of our children and masks keep them from learning.  Experts have stated that is false.  The mental health of our children is being tested as they return to school terrified of the virus and terrified of being bullied for wearing masks.  You have put a target on their back and we can assure you nobody can learn under that pressure.  Not mandating masks will not only lead to a rise in cases, but repeated interruption of instruction due to quarantining.  You are already asking so much of our teachers.  They can’t possibly keep up with all of that and make sure the children get the best education they possibly can.  And what about the parents they can’t continually take off of work because they need to make a living? Children repeatedly missing large chunks of school is what will hinder their ability to learn, not wearing a mask as you claim.  Your actions are creating an unsafe and reckless environment for our children in more ways than one.  Can you assure us without a doubt that there will be no long-term health complications for our children if they contract COVID?
The Delta variant is a game changer and it is sweeping the nation.  Several politicians in many of our neighboring states that have a like-minded stance to you on this issue are changing their tune and urging masks and pleading those that are unvaccinated to consider getting vaccinated.  Unfortunately, it has come at the cost of thousands of their citizens dying.  Why do you think South Carolina would be any different?  Hospital ICU beds are full across many states.  Where do the non COVID patients go when they require the care of an ICU?  There is an additional unnecessary loss of life here.  When our state gets overrun with COVID like our neighbors, where do you think your citizens will be able to go for treatment?  Those states are desperate to take care of their own.  You may think you are pleasing the majority, but your legacy will be left most remembered with innocent blood on your hands.  You are on the wrong side of history and you know it.  
A parent cannot always be a friend.  There are times where we will be the villain in our kids' story as we do what we need to in order to save them from themselves.  You, in this case, are like the parent that is supposed to know better and to protect the children, but you are more concerned with being their friend to avoid being the villain.  You are supposed to be a leader, not sitting on the sidelines waiting to mitigate the fallout.  This is not a matter of limiting your citizen’s constitutional rights. "The Constitution gives states the ability to protect the welfare, safety and health of the public, and in the face of a global pandemic, courts have found that mask mandates are a justified measure."  If you don’t want to be the villain then allow local governments to decide for themselves as each is facing different infection rates.  
Those with a conservative view may be loud, but they are not the majority.  You are throwing our children to the wolves.  Hell hath no fury like a parent who feels their child is in danger.  Even now there are local governments in your state that are fighting back because they care more about the lives of the children in the state of South Carolina than you appear to.  It is only a matter of time until more will join this fight as this virus forces their hand as it will yours.  We may not be as loud, but we are mighty and we will not forget on Election Day.