Reopening decision now rests with governor
Plus: S.C. shops reopen to few shoppers; Fear keeping patients away from hospitals; From Aries to Virgo, horoscope meme has your fate figured out
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- Mecklenburg won’t extend ‘stay at home’ order past Wednesday as towns object
- State ‘stay at home’ order expires Wednesday; Cooper to update status today
- Mecklenburg to examine ‘a soft opening of our economy,’ county manager says
- Decision on school year expected soon; S.C. cancels in-person classes for rest of year
by Tony Mecia
The pace of reopening Mecklenburg County businesses now rests with Gov. Roy Cooper, who is expected to announce his plan this afternoon.
For the last month, the county’s “stay at home” rules that have shut businesses and limited residents’ activities have been set locally, by proclamation of the county, the city and Mecklenburg’s six towns. At a Wednesday meeting, though, County Manager Dena Diorio told commissioners that she thinks the county will be unable to extend its order past Wednesday, April 29. A countywide order requires consensus with the towns that apparently does not exist. (Huntersville sounds like a holdout, the Observer reported.)
State in control: That means that the state’s plans will take charge starting a week from today. Raleigh media reported Wednesday that Cooper will announce his plan today at 3 p.m.
Discussions of reopening the economy mark a new phase in the coronavirus crisis. Until now, public officials have focused mostly on urging social distancing to slow the spread of the virus. They say those measures have largely been successful so far in avoiding worst-case scenarios and stabilizing the number of new confirmed coronavirus cases.
Striking a balance: But with layoffs spiking and growing concerns about severe economic damage, policymakers are starting to consider how to strike a delicate balance between restarting the closed sectors of the economy and safeguarding public health. This week, other states including South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee announced steps to reopen businesses. The first moves usually involve opening retailers and subjecting them to social distancing requirements similar to what currently exists in grocery stores and pharmacies.
Raleigh TV station WRAL reported that it gained a sneak peek of the governor’s plans from an unnamed source:
Cooper and his coronavirus advisors are planning for a phased return similar to what Pres. Donald J. Trump laid out last week.
They will be looking for downward trends in coronavirus deaths, use of intensive care unit beds, hospitalizations, overall Covid-19 cases and the percentage of cases related to testing. The source said deaths and ICU data will weigh the most in the calculation for how the state can reopen.
Phase 1 would allow for more freedom for people to leave their homes.
Phase 2 would likely be the reopening of certain businesses with strict social distancing requirements. Those where employees and clients come into close contact, like barbershops and salons, would probably have to wait longer.
A final phase would allow mass gatherings and concerts, but that stage is likely months away.
Extending current order? WRAL reported that “At the current rate of cases, deaths and hospitalizations, the governor’s executive order, scheduled to expire next week, is likely to be extended.” Mecklenburg leaders are asking Cooper to extend his order for two weeks.
Cooper has previously said any reopening depends on having more tests and better data to understand the spread of the disease.
Business panel: Confirming a report in The Ledger on Saturday, Diorio said the county would establish a business leaders’ roundtable “to assist [health director] Gibbie [Harris] and I and the public health team and emergency management on a soft opening of our economy.”
She said: “We believe we are at a point now … that we need to start looking forward and really trying to understand what a soft opening of our economy looks like.”
Diorio said the panel will include representatives from a diverse group of business sectors and organizations, including finance, retail, the Charlotte LGBT Chamber, the Latin American Chamber, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Black Chamber, higher education, sports, the governor’s office and county commissioner Mark Jerrell.
Pivot to reopening: The new focus on reopening shows how quickly events can change. As recently as last week, local hospitals and county leaders were still saying they needed a field hospital to handle the projected overflow of coronavirus patients.
Harris, the health director, stuck with estimates she offered earlier this week that the hospitals will handle a peak of Covid patients in mid- to late-June.
The pace of new cases in Mecklenburg seems to have slowed in the last couple weeks. The county reported Wednesday that it has 1,331 confirmed cases and 35 deaths. As of Wednesday, the number of confirmed cases had taken 17 days to double. A week ago, the number of cases had taken 13 days to double.
Schools: A decision is also expected soon on the fate of North Carolina’s public schools. As of now, schools are closed through May 15. South Carolina’s governor said Wednesday that his state’s schools will be online for the rest of the school year.
The number of new daily confirmed coronavirus cases, once feared to increase exponentially, appears to have stabilized in the last couple weeks. (Source: Ledger analysis of Mecklenburg health department data.)
Mecklenburg preview? S.C. stores are allowed to open, but many stay closed and shoppers stay home
South Carolina eased restrictions Monday on retail businesses, but many big box stores stayed closed Wednesday and those that were open saw few shoppers. Will this be the scene in North Carolina once stores are allowed to open?
In South Carolina on Wednesday, it was OK to go on the hunt for spring sandals and patio furniture. Yet shoppers were scarce at the Prominade at Carolina Reserve shopping center just over the South Carolina border in Indian Land.
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster lifted restrictions on retail stores on Monday. But that doesn’t mean shopping instantly springs back to life.
Most of the shopping center’s big-box stores like Homegoods, Ross and Five Below still had “closed” signs in their windows.
A few shoppers did filter in and out of the open Dollar Tree. But Kirkland’s, which had its doors wide open and was replete with Easter décor that made far more sense a month ago, had no customers when The Ledger stopped by.
Closed for health worries, or staffing? Certainly, for big stores that require a large workforce and had to lay off many of their employees last month, reopening quickly isn’t possible. Laid-off workers need to be hired back. Some former employees now have childcare issues, with South Carolina schools being closed until fall.
Small shops, on the other hand, need just a handful of workers, and many opened on Tuesday.
Five Below posted an announcement on its website, saying “in the context of ongoing developments related to Covid-19, and guidance from health experts and government officials, we’ve made the decision to keep our stores temporarily closed,” but that it is targeting May 1 or earlier to re-open.
Intensity on both sides: The question of whether shopping for anything more than groceries or prescriptions is a reckless act or a good idea is polarizing.
“The health of my family is more important than a new shirt to wear to Zoom meetings,” wrote one commenter on the Ballantyne Connections Facebook page, chiming in on a Monday Ledger story about South Carolina easing restrictions. (The Ballantyne area borders the South Carolina state line.)
“Reopening the economy offers everyone a choice. If you’re against going out, then simply stay home. But if you depend on your small business for income, you’re in the service industry, [or] want to be able to hike and fish, then we have options too,” wrote another.
One-two punch: Dean Faile, president of the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce, said he’s sensed optimism from the business owners he’s talked to about what’s to come in the months ahead.
But he said what could make or break businesses as they reopen is whether owners put changes in place to make customers and employees feel safe, whether it’s contactless registers or new store designs.
“The savvy business owner is going to have to show that it’s not business as usual,” Faile said. “It’s a one-two punch. How do I take care of my staff, and how do I make my customers comfortable? The ones that do both will win.” — CB
Coronavirus fears are keeping people out of the hospital
In yesterday’s edition, we wrote about an online panel held this week by Atrium Health, in which several doctors stressed that the hospital is a safe place to go for urgent medical care.
It says a lot about the crazy times we’re living in that the county’s largest medical system feels the need to make that point. But the docs said people are so scared of contracting the coronavirus that they are delaying and avoiding going in for the medical care they need.
Wednesday’s full editions are available only to paying Ledger subscribers, so not everybody saw it. We are repeating that portion of the article today for the benefit of people on our free list, because it is essential health information that everybody should know.
Some of the areas where Atrium has seen troubling trends include:
Emergency medicine. “Our volumes are definitely down,” said Dr. Andrew Asimos, an emergency physician at Carolinas Medical Center. He said they are seeing fewer car-crash victims but more people suffering injuries from “home-related activities.”
Strokes. “Some of our most severe stroke patients are waiting longer to come to the hospital, which decreases the likelihood that they will have a good outcome,” Asimos said.
Childbirth. “Some women are afraid to come into the hospital because they are afraid of getting exposed to coronavirus,” said certified nurse midwife Hallie Lyons. She said one woman this month waited so long to go to Carolinas Medical Center that she gave birth in the hospital’s lobby. The Ledger reported on new interest in at-home births two weeks ago. (The New York Times followed up on the topic Tuesday.)
Heart attacks. The number of heart attack patients has dropped by 2/3, which means that people are either experiencing minor, undetected heart attacks at home or suffering bigger, deadly heart attacks without going to the hospital, said Dr. Troy Leo, vice chief of cardiology. “While there is a lot of press about Covid, the stuff like heart attacks and strokes — the stuff that was happening before Covid — can still be more deadly than Covid itself,” he said.
Childhood asthma. Levine Children’s Hospital has had fewer asthma patients, and those that do come in are waiting longer before heading there, said Dr. Drew Herman, LCH’s chief medical officer.
“Fear has been expressed by patients,” said Dr. Rahul Karamchandani, stroke medical director at Carolinas Medical Center. “Covid is receiving a lot of media attention, for understandable reasons. But other disease processes are important. These are time-sensitive diseases we are talking about today. Getting to the hospital is really important in overcoming that fear.”
As of Wednesday, North Carolina said 242 people have died from Covid-19. University of Washington’s model forecasts a total of 310 deaths in North Carolina.
Here are the leading causes of death in North Carolina for 2017, the most recent year available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
Cancer, 19,474 deaths
Heart disease, 18,808 deaths
Accidents, 5,985 deaths
Chronic lower respiratory diseases, 5,540 deaths
Stroke, 5,098 deaths
Alzheimer’s disease, 4,289 deaths
Diabetes, 2,903 deaths
Flu/pneumonia, 2,076 deaths
Kidney disease, 2,040 deaths
Suicide, 1,521 deaths
—TM
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Quotable: Mecklenburg’s models and hospitalizations
At last night’s county commission meeting, county commissioner Susan Harden questioned county health director Gibbie Harris about the county’s coronavirus predictions, hospitalizations and the “stay at home” order. Here is some of the exchange:
Harden: Who are the people who developed the models, and what are their qualifications and degrees and level of experience?
Harris: The models are all over the place. It’s one of the challenges we have. The folks who have worked on the models here locally include our epidemiology department in public health, which includes our deputy director, who is a Ph.D. in epidemiology. There are also data scientists from both hospital systems that have been working with us on these models.
Harden: In the next two weeks, the model predicts an increase in the levels of hospitalizations. Do you agree with that prediction?
Harris: We see some evidence that we are going to see increases in hospitalizations over the next couple of weeks. … We continue to see the model flatten out some, which is keeping the numbers of hospitalizations down. They are not as severe as we had once thought they would be. We still expect increases in hospitalizations.
Harden: Is it a recommended public health practice to lift restrictions in the community while we are undergoing increases in both hospitalizations and in cases?
Harris: It is probably not a best public health practice to look at widely opening up again in our community. We still need social distancing, and we need our stay at home order.
Join us for a webinar on results of N.C. pandemic poll
This afternoon, The Ledger is teaming up with marketing agency Chernoff Newman on an exclusive free webinar in which the company will share new findings from its Consumer Insights poll of residents in North and South Carolina about the coronavirus pandemic.
The study examined consumer perceptions about finances, employment, news consumption, trust in state and federal leadership — and even stress and expectations about returning to pre-pandemic life and what a “new normal” might look like.
Details:
What: Zoom Meeting: Consumer Insights — Pandemic Poll
When: Thursday, April 23, 4 p.m. EST
Chernoff Newman presenters:
Fenton Overdyke, Director of Research
Tye Price, Senior Vice President & Chief Brand Strategist
How to attend: There’s no cost. Registration is required, and participation is capped at 100. Click here to sign up for the webinar.
In brief:
Helping the homeless: Some Charlotte homeless people say they never seem to see the money given to local charitable organizations. At an encampment on North College Street, Cortez Gilbert said: “Never on the streets do they come and say, ‘Hey, let’s put you in a hotel.’ … All these hotels are open. All these apartments right here open, but we out here. So where’s the money going?” (Queen City Nerve, print only)
Law move: The Charlotte office of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft plans to move to the 650 South Tryon tower at Legacy Union, an 18-story building under construction that is expected to open in the fall. (Biz Journal, subscriber-only)
Fund in question: The Carolina Small Business Development Fund, which Mecklenburg County Commissioners picked to run the county’s $5 million Covid-19 small business relief loan fund, had a questionable 2018 audit, and is charging the county more than $1 million to manage the $5 million fund. (Observer)
Hearings on hold: Divorce and child custody cases in Mecklenburg County have been delayed until June 1, and a Charlotte family court attorney says some parents are using closed courts as an excuse to defy custody orders. (WFAE)
Recycling avalanche: People have been tossing more into the recycling bin since the stay-at-home orders went into effect, causing the county’s recycling plant to have to operate seven days a week. And too many people are tossing in trash that they think is recyclable. (WFAE)
PowerPoint parties: Zoom happy hours are so two weeks ago. A new trend, Charlotte Agenda reports, is PowerPoint parties, in which people research interesting topics and present them for discussion. “So far we’ve discussed what really happened to Marilyn Monroe and whether the Great Hope Diamond is cursed, and the Denver airport and moon landing are obviously on the docket. … It’s the most fun I’ve had with friends while being sheltered in place.” (Charlotte Agenda)
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The Charlotte Ledger is an e-newsletter and web site publishing timely, informative, and interesting local business news and analysis Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, except holidays and as noted. We strive for fairness and accuracy and will correct all known errors. The content reflects the independent editorial judgment of The Charlotte Ledger. Any advertising, paid marketing, or sponsored content will be clearly labeled.
Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire; Reporting intern: David Griffith