COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), in partnership with the University of South Carolina and the BlueCross® BlueShield® of South Carolina Foundation, has released a new SC FitnessGram data report, revealing a steady decline in student health throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SC FitnessGram assessment is a comprehensive physical fitness test that evaluates various components of fitness, including aerobic capacity, muscular strength, flexibility, and body composition. The test is administered by school PE teachers in grades 2, 5, 8, and high school in participating schools across South Carolina.
In keeping with the declines in health noted in the study, participation in the study also declined from 64 districts in 2018-19 to just 52 in 2020-21, and of those 52 districts, only 21 districts had high-enough student participation data to be considered responsive. This study reflects data from those districts, which represent 48,154 students, 58% of whom qualify as living in poverty according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The report shows the percentage of children in the “Healthy Weight Category” decreased from 65% pre-pandemic to 59% post-pandemic, and the percentage of students in the “Healthy Fitness Zone” for cardiorespiratory fitness (i.e., heart and lung function) declined from 60% pre-pandemic to 51% post-pandemic.
There were also several disparities present in the data:
A disproportionate number of Black and Hispanic children scored lower on all testing than their White peers;
Students living in poverty are less likely to achieve the Healthy Fitness Zone; and
The percentage of students in the Healthy Fitness Zone decreases from elementary to middle to high school.
“This stark decline when students are not in the school setting, particularly for marginalized populations, proves that students are much more physically active when attending school in person,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC public health director. “These numbers show us just how important the role of public schools is to our children’s overall health, and schools should continue to promote physical activity before, during, and after school. We have a lot of ground to make up.”
Dr. Russ Pate of the USC Arnold School of Public Health and his team at the Children’s Physical Activity Research Group has been analyzing the SC FitnessGram data since its inception in 2014 and producing statewide reports of the data annually.
“These findings add to the growing body of evidence showing that the COVID pandemic harmed children’s health by depriving them of the physical activity that they normally receive in the school setting,” Pate said.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, healthy children are less likely to develop chronic health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease at a young age. The health of children also has a direct impact on academic capabilities. Children who are within a healthy weight range tend to have better memory, attention spans and self-esteem compared to those who are overweight or obese.
Breonna Mealing, SC FitnessGram Coordinator, said the connection of childhood health to the workforce of tomorrow can’t be underestimated.
“Even within the Career and Technical Education offerings for South Carolina students, there are many jobs that require physical fitness such as construction, the military, manufacturing, transportation and corrections,” Mealing said. “While offering these pathways to our students is important, equally as important is ensuring students are physically capable to take on those jobs once they graduate.”
The critical data SC FitnessGram produces each year is used to support programs and policies in public schools that will improve the health of our children. However, schools alone cannot bear all of the burden.
“We are calling on not only schools, but community organizations, parents, community members, and students themselves to play a role in the movement for daily physical activity,” Mealing said. “Not everyone can do everything, but everyone can do something.”
Visit SC FitnessGram at scdhec.gov/fitnessgram for the full data report and summary and to learn more about how you can support the movement to support students’ health from head to heart.
There’s a bill in the South Carolina Senate that, if passed, would give all SC public school students free meals every day. Sponsored by Senator Katrina Shealy (R-District 23), Senator Stephen Goldfinch (R-District 34), Senator Mia McLeod (D-District 22) and Senator Marion Kimpson (D-District 42), S.148 seeks to ensure all students get free breakfast and lunch by providing guidelines for eligible schools to participate in the USDA Community Eligibility Program (CEP). It also establishes a state-level reimbursement program for those schools that are not eligible for CEP and extends the lunch period to 30 minutes.
“This bill addresses multiple issues that schools, students, and parents are facing these days,” says Meg Stanley, executive director of Wholespire. “I’m talking about school budgets, administrative workload, hunger, poor grades and behavior, school lunch debt, food shaming, social pressures and added financial stress for parents.”
74% of children are income eligible for federal nutrition programs (at or below 185% of poverty)
For the last two years, parents didn’t have to worry about paying for school meals and school administrators didn’t have to worry about tracking and collecting lunch money. During COVID-19, the USDA enacted national waivers that allowed many schools to provide free meals and get reimbursed by the federal government. Now that the waivers have ended, schools are now returning to collecting breakfast and lunch money, parents are having to decide how to pay for and prepare lunches and students with debt are being served a crusty sandwich instead of a balanced hot meal and getting picked on by their peers.
“For too many students, eating breakfast and lunch at school is the only time in their day that they get a nutritious meal,” says Stanley. “If we want to improve the quality of education in South Carolina and make it equitable, we have to start somewhere and that’s with the bellies of our students.”
Breakfast and lunch are important to every student’s health and classroom performance. Nutritious meals provide energy that fuels the brain and helps with attention span, which influences test scores and grade-level advancement. When a child is hungry, it’s difficult to pay attention to anything else.
In 2022, Wholespire published a blog called Everything you need to know about the Community Eligibility Program. It makes the case for eligible schools to apply for CEP. The same benefits of CEP can be applied to S.148. If passed, here’s how schools, families and students will benefit from receiving free meals at schools:
Benefits for Schools
Eliminates unpaid school debt. Every student gets free breakfast and lunch. Families don’t pay and administrators don’t have to worry about collecting money and managing accounts.
Reduces administrative burdens.
Improves school nutrition staff morale. Staff focuses more on nutritious meals and less on the nutrition budget.
Can generate revenue for school nutrition budgets. Oftentimes, CEP leads to an increase in breakfast and lunch participation, which increases revenue for the nutrition budget.
Can make it easier to serve meals in the classroom. Teachers only need to count the number of meals being served to students in their classroom rather than tracking free, reduced, and paid meals.
Benefits for Families and Students
Improves student attendance and advancement. A study published in the Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition found significant benefits for students attending CEP schools, including higher attendance rates and more students advancing beyond 10th grade.
Fights hunger. The same study mentioned in the previous bullet also found students attending schools with CEP were nearly 3 times less likely to be food insecure.
Promotes equity and reduces stigma. CEP eliminates the out-of-pocket costs for families and reduces the stigma or embarrassment some students may feel by participating in the meals program. CEP also eliminates school lunch shaming, as no student can be turned away or given an alternative meal from failure to pay.
Reduces stress for families and students. Families with tight food budgets can rest assured that their child gets nutritious meals at school, reducing financial strain at home. Students don’t have to worry about paying for meals either.
Advocating for health in all policies is a priority for Wholespire, whose mission is to provide communities with proven and sustainable approaches that lead to increased access to healthy choices for ALL people. If you want to advocate for S.148, we encourage you to become a Wholespire advocate.
On March 8 2021, South Carolina’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan advanced to Phase 1b. One of the qualifying criteria for those eligible to receive the vaccine during this phase is, “People with increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease”. This includes people with high-risk medical conditions ranging from cancer to Down syndrome to pregnancy. An obesity diagnosis is also one of the high-risk medical conditions listed as an eligible factor to receive the vaccine. To understand whether you qualify as someone with obesity, you need to know your Body Mass Index (BMI), as well as how to calculate it.
So what is BMI and how do you calculate it?
BMI is the acronym for Body Mass Index. It is a long-standing screening method to determine whether someone is a healthy weight. Knowing your BMI is important and there are three relatively simple methods one can use to determine this:
Use an automated calculator to determine your BMI, such as this: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
To calculate BMI using a calculator, divide weight in pounds (lbs) by height in inches (in) squared and then multiply by a conversion factor of 703. For example, weight (lb) / [height (in)]² x 703
To calculate without a square function on your calculator, divide weight by height twice and then multiply by 703. For example, calculate as follows: [weight (lb)/ height (in)/ height (in)] x 703
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines any adult with a BMI exceeding 30 to be obese. In South Carolina, approximately 35% of South Carolinians are eligible for the vaccine based on BMI exceeding 30kg/m².
It has become increasingly obvious throughout the last year of this pandemic that each individual has a very different physical response to contracting COVID-19. Based on a diagnosis of obesity, the risk of contracting the virus and showing very ill-inducing symptoms is high. Click here for more information on the risk of COVID-19 for those with an obesity diagnosis.
Let’s come together as a community and do what we can to limit the further spread of COVID-19 and improve the health outcomes for those who do contract the virus.
Wear a mask, keep your distance from others, and get vaccinated.
Business is booming in many South Carolina towns and cities thanks to local infrastructure projects that have made communities more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly. Ten municipalities, featured in a new report released today by Eat Smart Move More South Carolina, have noted millions of dollars in returns on investments, not to mention more active citizens. In Stronger Economies Through Active Communities: The Economic Impact of Walkable, Bikeable Communities in South Carolina, small business and municipal leaders are seeing large returns on investments in health.
In one such case, the cities of Easley and Pickens jointly built a 7.5-mile multi-use, paved rail trail, called the Doodle Trail, to provide citizens with a safe place to be active. Since its completion in 2015, both cities have experienced business growth, and Pickens’ hospitality tax revenues grew 12%. Property values near the trail are also on the rise.
“The Doodle Trail in Easley supports our business,” said Cindy Maxey, owner of Upcountry Outdoors, LLC. “Our bike shop would not have opened if it had not been for the trail.”
According to Pickens Mayor David Owens, the Doodle Trail meets all of their needs. “Our residents needed to be active and healthy, and we also wanted to bring people into Pickens to visit our community. We just needed a place to do all that.”
Many small businesses in the featured communities are experiencing economic growth, and municipalities have seen increased property values, more private investments, and a rise in tourism. Importantly, citizens also are using these resources to lead more active lives.
The 6.5-mile Spanish Moss Trail, which links the City of Beaufort to Port Royal, has become a popular attraction for tourists and residents, serving 36,500 people in 2015. The city advertises the trail in its marketing campaigns, and local hotels lend bikes to guests for use on the trail. The local outfitters store has also seen an increase in sales.
Beginning in 2005, Charleston-area leaders and advocates designed a 32-mile pedestrian and bike route called Battery2Beach that connects the Charleston Battery to nearby beaches. A 2011 cost-benefit analysis determined that the route would generate $42 million annually by drawing more tourists.
Through a series of tax incentives and private investments, the City of Columbia has revitalized Main Street, improving sidewalks, landscaping, and adding decorative lighting and signage. Countless new restaurants and businesses have opened, drawing many pedestrians and cyclists.
After a $3.5 million investment in street and sidewalk repairs to revitalize downtown and connect neighborhoods to trails and parks, the City of Florence has become a hot spot for private development and new business growth. Property values have nearly tripled, and rents downtown are on the rise.
Greenville County constructed the Swamp Rabbit Trail, a 21-mile rail trail that stretches from Travelers Rest to Greenville. The trail draws more than 500,000 visitors each year and generates $6.7 million in tourism-based revenue. Both Greenville and Travelers Rest have seen many new businesses open that are supported by trail users, and existing businesses have seen increases in sales/revenue up to 85%.
The City of Hartsville invested $2.8 million in sidewalk repairs along College Avenue, a corridor that connects Coker College to the downtown area, and in a pocket park at Mantissa Alley. The sidewalk improvements, which are still underway, are expected to foster new business growth by increasing foot traffic downtown, and the pocket park has already attracted two new shops.
Through a public-private partnership, the City ofRock Hill created several public recreation venues at a mixed-use development along the Catawba River. Among them are the Piedmont Medical Center Trail, which draws an average 12,000 visitors each month, and two Olympic-caliber cycling facilities. One 3-day event in 2016 created approximately $2.5 million in direct economic impact from hotel stays, restaurant sales and other purchases.
The City of Spartanburg partnered with Partners for Active Living (PAL) to widen sidewalks, install bike lanes and extend existing trails. PAL also created the state’s first bike-share systems, including BCycle. The city has already seen significant economic benefits, including many new downtown businesses. Approximately 6,500 BCycle riders have made over 11,000 trips around the city since 2011.
The City of Walterboro is in the process of renovating the connector loop to I-95, which will include sidewalks, bike lanes, street lamps and decorative lighting. The loop is designed to draw tourists from the highway to Walterboro’s attractions, including the Great Swamp Sanctuary, a popular destination for walkers, cyclists and school groups. With as many as 85,000 motorists using I-95 on busy days, Walterboro stands to benefit significantly from increased tourism as a result of this project.
Many other communities across South Carolina have had success in creating built environments that promote active lifestyles, and in doing so have seen economic and fiscal benefits. The ten communities highlighted in this report range in size, region, and demographics, and their efforts can serve as models of success for other communities in the state. To learn more about what South Carolina communities are doing to promote healthy, active lifestyles, visit www.esmmsc.org.
