Mecklenburg County downplays chance that it will soon issue shelter-in-place order

Mecklenburg County has “no plans at this time” to issue a shelter-in-place order to limit the spread of the coronavirus, County Manager Dena Diorio said Thursday.

In a text message to county commissioners, Diorio downplayed an update from Tuesday’s county commissioners meeting, when Public Health Director Gibbie Harris disclosed that a strict measure — comparable to the order already enacted in San Francisco — may be necessary “more quickly than we like” here, with Mecklenburg “moving more rapidly to more restrictions.”

Commissioner Mark Jerrell had asked Harris on Tuesday to gauge the urgency of the pandemic in Mecklenburg, probing: “How close do you think we are to a shelter-in-place (order)?”

“Unfortunately, Gibbie’s comment was taken out of context,” Diorio wrote in her message Thursday. “We could not and would not do that locally without talking to you first and consulting with the State and hospital systems. Gibbie does not have the authority to issue that order.”

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Diorio clarified that if a shelter-in-place order is made locally, Harris does “inform when that decision ultimately gets made,” particularly in monitoring the scope of confirmed cases. But with the county under a state of local emergency since Sunday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Operations Center would make the final call for residents to shelter in place, according to Diorio.

“We are not in a shelter-in-place situation right now,” Diorio said. “We are not there yet, and I wanted to make that clear.”

Jill Moore, a public health expert with UNC’s School of Government, said local health directors are responsible for implementing a state-directed “communicable disease control measure.”

”At present the communicable disease control measures for Covid 19 do not include shelter in place orders,” Moore said.

George Dunlap, the chairman of the county commissioners, said that he views a shelter-in-place order as a “last-ditch effort,” noting the number of cases are much lower in Mecklenburg compared to those in California and New York. As of Thursday afternoon, there are 32 positive COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg.

Still, Dunlap urged residents to take the coronavirus seriously.

“The bottom line is we do not have an order to stay in place, and we would not issue such an order without consulting with the governor,” Dunlap said in an interview Thursday. “I would wait for the governor — I don’t know what he would take into consideration.”

Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday ordered all bars and restaurants to close — except for takeout and delivery. Last week, he declared a state of emergency to unlock access to federal funding.

Under state law, Mecklenburg cannot act “unilaterally” when contemplating shelter-in-place orders, Commissioner Susan Harden emphasized.

“The way counties work, we’re limited in authority,” Harden said an interview Thursday. “People are trying to do the most with the authority that they have.”

This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 12:52 PM.