MOUNT PLEASANT — Residents of South Carolina's fourth-largest city have been ordered to stay at home for 14 days starting Thursday, with broad exceptions for essential businesses.

Short-term rentals will be prohibited during that period of time, which ends April 15, but hotels could continue to operate. Current short-term rental guests can remain until the end of their reservation.

The mandatory stay-at-home proclamation and two-page list of essential businesses, ranging from lawn care to hospitals, was posted on the town's website Tuesday afternoon.

The emergency proclamation says "it is vitally important that we all work together to decrease the widespread proliferation of Covid-19 among us all now rather than suffer the unfortunate and devastating consequences later."

The order states that as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday "individuals shall remain in their homes and not congregate in the streets or sidewalks, and shall not travel through the waterways and/or public spaces in the Town of Mount Pleasant," including at businesses.

There are exceptions for working at or doing business with "essential services" of which there are many in the town of about 90,000 residents.

Businesses that aren't on the "essential" list can apply to be considered, using a form on the town's website tompsc.com.

Mayor Will Haynie disclosed the order at noon.

Town Council had not voted on a stay-at-home order but also had declined to limit the mayor's authority to announce one. Mount Pleasant's mayor votes as a ninth member of the council and has little executive power, but an emergency order related to the pandemic gave him extra authority.

Council members have not been unified on the issue of stay-home orders. On Friday, Councilwoman Brenda Corley said that even discussing a resolution calling for a statewide stay home order was divisive.

The council voted down that resolution, declining to officially request that Gov. Henry McMaster issue a statewide order. Also Friday the council discussed limiting Haynie's authority to issue a stay-home order for the town, but took no action.

By Sunday Councilman Jake Rambo, who had initiated the idea of limiting Haynie's authority to issue a stay-home order without a council vote, changed his mind and on Twitter called for the mayor to issue one.

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"In light of today’s updated Attorney General opinion that says local governments can enact emergency orders until challenged in court, I am urging Mayor @willhaynie to issue a “stay at home” order for Mt. Pleasant," Rambo wrote.

The attorney general had previously issued an advisory opinion that, while non-binding and carrying no force of law, caused confusion and prompted Folly Beach and Edisto to temporarily rescind prohibitions on nonresident access to the islands.

After the weekend confusion of beach towns reopening and then closing, the governor on Monday ordered the public barred from access to South Carolina's beaches, lakes and rivers.

Amid the fast-moving changes, Mount Pleasant council members who could be reached late Monday said they had not been informed of a pending stay-home order for the town, but some suspected one was likely.

“I’ve been hearing through the grapevine that he (Haynie) plans to do it," said Councilman Gary Santos. "If he does, I think he puts the town at risk."

Santos said the state, not the town, has the authority to make such a decision, and in his oath of office he swore to uphold the law. He also worried that, as the attorney general warned, the town could be sued.

Councilman Tom O'Rourke said the mayor has the authority, and he would support the mayor's decision.

Tuesday, after the mayor's order was reported, O'Rourke said the mayor had sent out a rough draft to council members ahead of time. He was concerned that decisions are being made without public meetings and Town Council input, as neighboring Charleston has done.

"If anybody wants any information about the town, they need to call the mayor, not me, because he’s in charge," O'Rourke said.

In addition to Chapman, Hyatt, Rambo and O'Rourke, Councilwoman Guang Ming Whitley has voiced support for a stay-home order.