Mecklenburg County to ban gatherings of 50 or more as coronavirus count rises

Mecklenburg County’s health director said Monday she will sign an order banning gatherings of 50 or more people as coronavirus cases in the county rose to seven, three more than had been reported Sunday.

Public health director Gibbie Harris’ ban would exceed a mass-gatherings limit of 100 that Gov. Roy Cooper had ordered Saturday. State health officials on Monday recommended that gatherings be limited to 50 or fewer people.

Monday afternoon, the White House went further, saying Americans should avoid gathering in groups of 10 or more, stop discretionary travel and stay out of restaurants and bars for at least the next 15 days. President Trump predicted the outbreak could last until July or August.

The Mecklenburg ban won’t apply to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, churches, office space, shelters, hospitals, gyms or restaurants. But it could intrude into personal lives, curtailing events such as weddings, birthday parties, as well as training and meetings.

“We need to think of social distancing more (often) than we have,” Harris said.

Harris said her own family had canceled a planned birthday party for a 98-year-old relative because of the threat the coronavirus posed to the woman’s health.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Deputy Chief Jeff Estes said officers would try to enforce the new ban by seeking “voluntary compliance.”

A Charlotte-based company and the city, meanwhile, partnered on $2 million in pledges to help those who are already feeling the outbreak’s financial pinch.

Online financial services firm LendingTree announced a $1 million donation, which the city said it would match, to a new community fund to aid organizations that work with those affected by the virus. Foundation for the Carolinas and United Way of Central Carolinas launched the COVID-19 Response Fund.

The CMS Foundation, a nonprofit arm of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, separately announced a relief fund to help students and their families during the outbreak.

Health officials are investigating the routes of exposure for the three newly-diagnosed patients in Mecklenburg County, Harris told reporters. Through Friday, she said, county health officials were also investigating 259 cases of people who had been tested by the county or private clinicians and are awaiting results.

North Carolina now has 40 reported coronavirus cases statewide, up four from Sunday. In addition to the three cases added in Mecklenburg County, Iredell County and Wake County both reported new positive test results Monday. Cabarrus County said Monday that secondary testing by a state lab confirmed a case first reported last week.

State health director Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson told reporters that, of the cases the Department of Health and Human Services had documented by Monday morning, all had been in contact with an infected person or had traveled to areas where the virus was found. One has been hospitalized, she said.

Harris has said there is no evidence of “community spread” of the disease, referring to cases with no identified origin. But Mecklenburg County’s ability to test for the respiratory disease remains sharply limited, as it has been nationwide.

“Our capability outpaces our capacity,” but is improving, Harris said Monday. “We have been able to test anybody who needed to be tested in this county; they have not been turned away.”

Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, coughing and shortness of breath. Anyone with symptoms should call their doctor or the health department before visiting in-person. Mecklenburg County’s coronavirus hotline is 980-314-9400.

Mecklenburg declared a state of emergency Sunday after two more residents tested presumptively positive for COVID-19. The move is key to getting state and federal funding help to fight the pandemic, county officials said. State and local health officials have said they need more test supplies to gauge the spread of the virus and detect new cases.

CMS closed for students, not employees

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools closed Monday, under Cooper’s statewide order Saturday that closed schools statewide through at least March 30. CMS employees were expected to work and focus on creating and distributing curriculum and devices to students, the district told its staff Sunday.

In a letter Monday parents, faculty and staff, Charlotte Country Day’s head of school, Mark Reed, said that a parent at the school had tested positive for the coronavirus. That parent had come into contact with a teacher, who had not shown any symptoms and was self-quarantined, Reed wrote.

The parent was on the school’s Cannon campus last week, Reed wrote, and is following CDC guidelines. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the parent is among those previously counted.

“We understand that this news is unsettling, but we want to assure you that the health and safety of our entire community remain our number one priority,” Reed wrote.

Reed said the county health department was working to identify individuals who had close contact with the parent, but that he would not release any specific information due to privacy concerns.

The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library said late Monday that all locations would close at 5 p.m. Tuesday until further notice. The announcement referred users to digital resources and said it wouldn’t assess fines for overdue books.

Eviction hearings put on hold

Stocks nosedived at the opening bell Monday as the prospect of widespread closures of businesses and institutions took hold. Major employers in Charlotte have told their employees to work from home, grocery stores are closing early to clean and restock and airlines have cut routes.

North Carolina will stop eviction and foreclosure hearings for the next 30 days, Cheri Beasley, chief justice of the state Supreme Court, wrote in a memo Sunday. The pause is part of the court system’s latest effort to reduce courthouse traffic and slow the spread of the coronavirus.

American Airlines, the dominant carrier at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, said Sunday it would cut international flight capacity by 75% from March 16 to May 6, compared to the year before. Those cuts include suspending the route between London Heathrow Airport and CLT.

Carolina Place Mall is cutting back hours, effective Monday, so stores can be thoroughly cleaned, owner Brookfield Properties said.

Charlotte City Council has a plan to hold public meetings in a different room from audience members, according to an email sent to county commissioners Friday. Members of the public will be required to sit 6 feet apart, which will limit the number of people allowed in the chamber. Council members will meet in a separate room.

Charlotte-based Truist Financial Corp. said an employee in its New York City office was confirmed positive for the virus on Friday. That person is at home under self-isolation, the company said, while all other employees on his floor are under mandatory self-quarantine.

Truist said it’s requiring social distancing for employees in critical functions and working to allow more employees to work from home.

Staff writer Annie Ma contributed.

This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 1:22 PM.