Cooper: Masks required, business reopenings on hold
Governor cites rising Covid numbers: 'We want to stop it."; New mask mandate falls on businesses to enforce
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Cooper to require masks starting Friday; gyms and bars to remain closed at least 3 more weeks
Saying he’s worried about the continued spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Roy Cooper will require residents to wear face coverings around others in public places starting Friday night.
And he’s declining to allow the state to move into the next phase of its reopening, which means businesses such as bars, gyms, yoga studios, movie theaters and bowling alleys will remain closed until at least July 17.
“We see our numbers continuing to go up,” Cooper said at a news conference this afternoon. “We want to stop it. We don’t want to go backward.”
The new mask mandate applies to:
Retail establishments. Customers and employees in retail businesses must wear face coverings when they are “inside the establishment and may be within 6 feet of another person.”
Restaurants. Restaurant customers must wear masks “when not at their table,” and restaurant workers must wear them when within 6 feet of somebody else.
Other places where people are close together, including public transit, certain manufacturing facilities and camps.
Retailers as ‘facial covering police’: The responsibility falls on the businesses to enforce the new rules, which will last for at least three weeks, through July 17. Retailers have sounded alarms about being required to enforce government mask mandates, for fear of having already stressed-out retail workers confront customers who refuse to wear masks. The head of the N.C. Retail Merchants Association told The Ledger last week: “We should not make retail employees into the facial covering police. We’ve seen numerous events of violence toward retail employees when they are requested by the government to enforce those requirements.” [Read the full article on retailers’ thoughts on mask requirements, third item]
Businesses can be cited if workers or customers are not wearing face coverings when required.
The governor’s new executive order includes some exceptions, including children under age 11, people who are strenuously exercising and people with medical conditions.
Cooper characterized his decisions as necessary for public health and to help rebuild the state’s economy.
“Requiring face coverings not only cause zero harm to our economy, it in fact helps our economy by making it safer to shop and do business and keep our businesses running,” Cooper said.
He said the science is “overwhelming” that face coverings help stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Some businesses to remain closed: By declining to move North Carolina into Phase 3, Cooper is leaving shut bowling alleys, movie theaters, bars, gyms and yoga studios. They have been closed since mid-March. Although many other businesses have been allowed to reopen, officials worry about the spread of the virus indoors and are electing to keep them shut. Some of those businesses have sued Cooper in hopes that courts would allow them to open, but none has yet succeeded. The state legislature has also passed bills allowing some kinds of businesses to reopen, but Cooper has vetoed them.
Focus on Covid data
Cooper’s decision comes as many of the pieces of Covid data in North Carolina seem to be headed in the wrong direction: The number of new daily cases has risen, more Covid patients are in the hospital and the percentage of those testing positive has not fallen. When state officials in April disclosed the data they would be examining to determine the pace of reopening businesses, they said they wanted those numbers to be steady or declining.
Although the numbers are sometimes described in the media as “spiking,” they have mostly been steady increases. The increases in testing have led to an increase in the numbers of new confirmed cases. The number of hospitalizations reached 906 on Wednesday, a 54% increase from a month ago, or an average net increase of 10 patients a day. Statewide, there are at least 2,600 available hospital beds and 2,200 available ventilators as of Wednesday, the state says.
Cooper said the moves announced today would help ensure hospitals aren’t overwhelmed: “North Carolina has been careful in lifting Covid-19 restrictions, and it’s because public health experts warned that removing restrictions too fast or all at once can cause a major spike in the virus that can overwhelm our medical system … Doctors and healthcare experts have warned that hospital capacity can be overwhelmed in the blink of an eye.”
Covid hospitalizations have been steadily increasing in North Carolina. Source: N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Other measures show some progress. The percentage of people testing positive who require hospitalization has dropped, probably because younger, healthier people are now getting tested more than before; and the number of daily Covid deaths in North Carolina seems to have been falling since the beginning of June.
Still, health officials have said the numbers are troubling and show that the virus continues to spread, even though many people are still working from home, staying away from others, refusing to go out to eat and wearing masks.
No vacation in Jersey? Underscoring the concern about North Carolina’s rising numbers, three Northeastern states — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut — announced on Wednesday that visitors from North Carolina and eight other states with rising numbers will have to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
Mask donation: Atrium CEO Gene Woods made an appearance at Cooper’s news conference, where he announced that a number of Charlotte-based businesses plan to donate 1 million masks. His list included the Carolina Panthers, Bank of America, Honeywell, Lowe’s, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Red Ventures. The masks will be “distributed to those most in need,” Woods said.
The mask rule takes effect Friday at 5 p.m.
Read Cooper’s new executive order on face coverings
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