Phase 2 extended at least 5 more weeks; here’s what you need to know

CHARLOTTE — Gov. Roy Cooper said North Carolina’s COVID-19 restrictions keeping high-risk businesses closed and mass gatherings severely limited will remain in place for another five weeks.

Cooper announced Wednesday that the state will not be moving into Phase 3 on Friday when his extension was set to expire, but instead will remain in Phase 2 until Sept. 11.

A decision to maintain the status quo comes even as the governor and his top health official said case trends continue to stabilize, and even improve slightly in some areas, compared to a few weeks ago. Cooper said he had to balance people losing more jobs with losing more lives to the coronavirus when making the decision to extend.

The new order means bars, gyms, movie theaters and amusement parks — places where people are usually in closer contact — will now be closed for nearly six straight months. Gatherings are still limited to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors, with some exceptions.

Bars, gyms, movie theaters and amusement parks must remain closed and a face covering requirement in public places will continue. Those businesses have been closed since March 30, when Cooper first issued an executive order in hopes of slowing the spread of the virus.

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Many were hoping to reopen alongside restaurants and retail stores when North Carolina moved into Phase 2: Safer at Home on May 22, but bars and gyms were excluded.

The governor then extended Phase 2 and issued a statewide mask requirement on June 26.

On July 14, Phase 2 was extended for a second time before Cooper’s decision Wednesday to once again extend the order.

“In North Carolina, we’ve used a dimmer switch approach to easing restrictions,” Cooper said. “This ensured we didn’t open too much, too quickly, which health experts say can lead to a devastating increase in cases, sickness and death.”

As many university campuses and K-12 public schools begin fall classes this month with some in-person instruction, Cooper said it's important to keep the same social distancing restrictions in place. Retaining the other restrictions will help counterbalance the higher risk associated with bringing together students, the governor said.

“There are key openings already occurring this month,” Cooper said at a media briefing, and with “the hustle and bustle of opening schools, people will move around more, and so will the virus.”

Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Mandy Cohen said virus trends such as new cases and people showing up to the emergency room with COVID-like symptoms are declining or remaining level, but their not low enough. The state’s progress has been attributed to both the mask mandate and the efforts of North Carolinians.

“While overall we’re seeing signs of stability, we still have much work to do,” Cohen said. “My glimmer of hope remains as we see subtle signs of progress.”

North Carolina’s day-over-day increase in new coronavirus cases has been slowing, with about 1,125 more reported Wednesday to a total of over 129,000 during the pandemic, according to state health data. There have been 2,050 COVID-19 patient deaths. Like other states, test completions also have slowed.

State leaders hope to prevent cases from ‘spiraling out of control’ when school starts

The decision comes weeks before students head back to school.

Cohen expressed hope that the extension will give state health officials enough time to analyze the impact of students and teachers interacting with each other on the spread of the virus.

Cooper last month told public schools that they could either hold in-person classes with social distancing restrictions and indoor face-mask mandates or conduct all remote learning when the year began Aug 17. Districts or charter schools that teach close to two-thirds of the state’s 1.5 million public school students have decided to conduct learning online to start the year, according to recent Department of Public Instruction data.

[Here is Gov. Cooper’s plan for North Carolina public schools this fall]

Many districts across the state have decided to start the school with full remote learning, including Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. The district initially planned to have in-person learning for the first two weeks of school, but later backtracked saying it would not be prepared to reopen on Aug. 17.

UNC-Chapel Hill, the North Carolina university system’s flagship campus, began welcoming students this week in advance of the first day of classes this Monday. The school will have a mix of in-person and online classes. The health director in Orange County, which includes Chapel Hill, wrote school Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz last week asking him to consider online instruction only for at least the first five weeks of the semester.

In a mass email late Wednesday, Guskiewicz said campus officials had made changes to reduce in-person classroom and on-campus residential capacity and that “we believe we are well prepared” for the semester.

Cohen said her agency has been working for months with higher education leaders to implement best practices for responding to COVID-19 on campus so that positive cases won’t spiral out of control.

“These are not activities with no risk. There is risk. The virus is with us, it’s in our communities,” Cohen said.

Virus impact scales back RNC plans in Charlotte

While most people who contract the coronavirus recover after suffering only mild to moderate symptoms, it can be deadly for older patients and those with other health problems.

Cohen also said on Wednesday that her department had reviewed a health and safety plan that Republican National Convention officials sent this week for their meetings in Charlotte later this month and provided some feedback.

[RELATED: RNC releases health protocols for delegates while in Charlotte]

Party business meetings will be held Aug. 21-23 and President Donald Trump will be formally nominated there as the GOP candidate on Aug. 24.

The Republican National Committee had once scheduled a traditional convention in Charlotte, but the festivities were scaled back and moved to Jacksonville, Florida, when Trump and Cooper disagreed over social distancing restrictions, particularly for his nomination speech. Trump later canceled the Jacksonville events as COVID-19 cases surged in Florida.

Now only 336 delegates are expected in Charlotte to formally nominate the president.

The convention’s plan will include daily temperature for delegates, face covering requirements and on-site medical workers. Cohen said the plan contains some “very good core principles” but suggested other ideas to reduce risk.

‘We can’t keep the economy shut down forever'

Under Phase 3, gyms and bars would be able to reopen and capacities for mass gatherings are expected to expand and increase for restaurants, but businesses will now have to wait

There are plenty of restaurants open now but things are not the same as they were before the pandemic restrictions.

[PAST COVERAGE: North Carolina to remain in Phase 2 until at least Aug. 7]

“It has not been too bad up until the last two weeks,” Brad Byrd, general manager of Queen Park Social said.

Byrd said the hardest rules to follow currently come from Mecklenburg County. Leaders stopped on-site food and alcohol sales after 11 p.m., shut down shared touch games and banned seating and standing in bar areas.

“A lot of our business is a bit later, but the biggest impact is closing the bar and the shared touch areas,” Byrd said.

Queen Park Social is a large space, but Byrd said it would be helpful for more people to be permitted inside.

“Our capacity was originally 600 but we have cut it on our own to 200. That includes the patio space,” Byrd said. “If we can get that higher then we will certainly do that.”

Howard Hitchcock of Vitner’s Hill Wine Bar and Bistro in Mint Hill said expanded capacity is one of the things he is most looking forward to in Phase 3.

“We certainly welcome the opportunity to expand capacity in the next phase,” Hitchcock said. “Every small business wants to continue to see us advance and we can’t keep the economy shut down forever.”

Restaurants and bars have not been immune to COVID-19. At least a dozen places have shuttered their doors.

Those ones that have remained open have seen varying levels of traffic.

CMS reverses course, will re-open with full remote learning CMS reverses course, will re-open with full remote learning

“When we were in Phase 1, we had great support through to-go orders and then Phase 2 came along,” Will Bigham, of Pizza Peel, said. “When we first opened up, people were going out and about but then the virus spiked again and wearing masks became mandatory. Then everybody went back in.”

Bigham said the 50% capacity rule doesn’t affect him now because the demand just isn’t there. He hopes customers return in Phase 3.

“We want people to come out, but we want to make sure people are safe,” Bigham said.

Mecklenburg County to hire ‘ambassadors’ to help with enforcement

Mecklenburg County is trying to enforce COVID-19 restrictions already in place. Commissioners asked CMPD and the county manager to ramp up enforcement, and they laid out their plans at their Wednesday night meeting.

CMPD response statistics since the county’s restrictions were put in place:

290 locations

• 217 are alcohol-serving establishments
• 65 were gaming establishments
• 20 places served with violations
• 4 referrals to the health department on social distancing and mask requirements

The county is going to hire part-time ambassadors who will be to go to businesses and educate them on social distancing and mask requirements.

The county said it can't cite people for violating mask and social distancing rules.

Several commissioners made it clear they want to see a crackdown on violators, especially with the new late-night restrictions.

“People want enforcement,” said Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, D-District 6. “They want it. They have said it is inadequate.”

Local businesses react to Cooper extending Phase 2

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