//South Carolina lawmakers consider breaking up public health agency DHEC

South Carolina lawmakers consider breaking up public health agency DHEC

South Carolina’s public health workers have been tasked with keeping the state safe for 143 years, ever since lawmakers created a health board in 1878 after a yellow fever outbreak killed 20,000 Americans.Now, as the coronavirus pandemic surges, legislators are trying to break their agency apart.As in most states, South Carolina’s public health agency was underfunded and overworked long before it had to sustain an