Mecklenburg County orders residents to stay at home, bans groups of 10+

An order for people to “stay at home” goes into effect on Thursday morning in Charlotte as well as other municipalities and the unincorporated areas of Mecklenburg County, officials announced Tuesday afternoon.

The “stay-at-home” order — prompted by the spread of COVID-19 locally — is similar to the “shelter-in-place” orders issued in other jurisdictions. Mecklenburg County’s order will be in effect for the next three weeks, starting 8 a.m. Thursday, March 26, County Manager Dena Diorio said.

Public and private gatherings of more than 10 people are banned under Mecklenburg’s order, superseding a prior directive that limited gatherings to 50 individuals. Certain businesses — grocery stores and pharmacies, for example — are permitted to stay open. The proclamation permits “leaving the home for essential activities,” which include seeking medical care or going to care for a friend or loved one.

“Part of the stay-at-home order is to make sure that we have the capacity in hospitals” in case there is a surge in COVID-19 cases, Diorio said.

“The higher level of compliance we get with this proclamation, the shorter it will be,” Diorio emphasized.

Some travel, errands and other “essential” movement will be allowed under the proclamation, which was posted publicly Tuesday on the county’s website, MeckNC.gov.

Stores that sell groceries and medicine, and certain other businesses and nonprofit organizations are permitted to stay open, and their employees may drive or travel for work purposes. That includes daycare facilities, funeral homes, homeless shelters, news organizations, gas stations, banks, post offices, hardware stores and hotels.

Restaurants are allowed to have takeout and delivery options, though in-person dining was banned last week by Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order. Other activities, such as going to a park or greenway or walking a pet, are allowed as long as social distancing is observed, meaning people stay 6 feet or more away from one another, officials said. Deliveries to your home are also permitted.

Earlier voluntary guidance to reducing outings wasn’t enough, Diorio said, specifically noting how young people have tested positive in Mecklenburg County. Residents ages 20-39 made up almost half of Mecklenburg’s cases that had been reported through Sunday afternoon.

The stay-at-home joint proclamation was signed by Mecklenburg County commissioners Chairman George Dunlap and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, as well as the mayors of Cornelius, Matthews, Davidson, Mint Hill, Huntersville and Pineville. Last Sunday, officials had declared local states of emergency to unlock state and federal funding.

Executives from Charlotte’s largest hospital systems, Atrium Health and Novant Health, urged the county on Monday to issue an order for people to mostly stay at home. Their concern was that health care providers will be overwhelmed by patients needing treatment for COVID-19.

Violations could lead to arrest

“This is a big deal in our community,” Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said. “This, we feel, is the necessary step for us to take.”

Dunlap said the decision to enact such sweeping restrictions on day-to-day life was not taken lightly. Still, Dunlap said, the step was crucial to safeguarding public health and preventing deaths linked to COVID-19.

“We have listened to the concerns of people from every part of Mecklenburg County,” Dunlap said. “It weighs heavy on my heart to have to make these kinds of decisions. … The sooner we get through this, the better we are.”

County attorney Tyrone Wade said the order applies to all visitors entering Mecklenburg, including those from nearby South Carolina and other surrounding counties in North Carolina. Wade said people who violate the order could face a misdemeanor charge and possibly arrest.

The order does not apply to homeless residents, Diorio clarified. But to maintain social distancing in shelters — and accommodate individuals who may have COVID-19 — Mecklenburg has leased three motels, officials have said.

Mecklenburg County Commissioner Trevor Fuller urged residents to take the coronavirus pandemic “seriously.”

“The exponential growth is really alarming,” Fuller said. “We have to remember that the first thing is to protect life. That’s our first duty — that’s what we’re doing.”

Total number of local cases grows

Public Health Director Harris said there are 142 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, as of Tuesday afternoon in Mecklenburg. About one in five of those diagnosed has been hospitalized, according to Harris.

“We know that we have community spread in Mecklenburg County,” Harris told county commissioners during a special meeting Tuesday afternoon. “We know we’re seeing increases in our community every day.”

About 3,000 tests are still pending for Mecklenburg residents, according to Harris. She lamented the “frustrating” backlog of cases, which has caused a delay in results for up to two weeks.

Mecklenburg’s stay-at-home proclamation came just minutes after Gov. Cooper reminded county commissioners on a statewide conference call that they have the ability to issue local shelter-in-place orders — and, he said, they can make “unique” decisions.

Not all counties have confirmed COVID-19 cases yet, though Cooper said “that’s going to happen at some point down the road.” The governor also left open the possibility of leveling additional statewide orders, which so far have closed a wide swath of businesses — including gyms, theaters, salons, restaurants and bars — to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

“We respect the authority of county government,” Cooper said in Tuesday’s conference call hosted by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. “We respect you as units of local government and understand you have the best interests of your folks at heart.”

Commissioner Vilma Leake reiterated that the order is only temporary.

“This too shall pass,” Leake said. “We know this will not last forever.”

Diorio said that leaders from Atrium Health and Novant Health, in addition to emergency management personnel, were heavily consulted ahead of Tuesday’s proclamation.

“Our predictive models show that we have hours, not days, to flatten the curve in a way that does not overwhelm critical services,” Atrium Health CEO Eugene Woods and Novant Health CEO Carl Armato told Diorio in a letter Monday. “Each hour that passes, more and more residents are coming into contact with others.”

A reversal from last week

Some Mecklenburg County commissioners had earlier this week raised concerns about what they saw as lax local restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 — especially as officials elsewhere across the country issued stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders. In North Carolina, the state’s hospital association urged Gov. Cooper Monday to issue a shelter-in-place order “to try to head off a surge in new coronavirus cases,” Raleigh’s News & Observer reported.

In states such as Ohio, California and Connecticut, residents are forced to work from home, but they are allowed to exercise and run errands at businesses deemed “essential,” such as supermarkets.

Diorio said county leaders began developing the stay-at-home order over the weekend, as cases steeply increased in Mecklenburg. Various timetables had been discussed, including an order that could last 60 days, according to Diorio.

“We felt three weeks would give us enough time to look at the data and make a decision — whether we saw the curve flattening or whether we needed to extend,” Diorio said in a virtual press briefing Tuesday evening.

Harris could not offer an exact COVID-19 case total that would prompt authorities to lift — or lengthen — Mecklenburg’s order. But she said future decisions would revolve closely around the capacity of local hospitals.

Harris mentioned shelter-in-place orders last week and told county commissioners as early as last Tuesday that Mecklenburg was also “moving in that direction more quickly than we like.” Harris’ comment came when the county had identified 11 cases of the new coronavirus.

So far, at least three other North Carolina communities — Madison County, Pitt County and the Town of Beaufort — have effectively ordered their residents to stay at home and limit travel.

One reason Mecklenburg County leaders say they’re calling the proclamation a “stay-at-home” order is due to an existing local use of “sheltering in place” to refer to actions taken during nuclear power plant emergencies. That local “shelter-in-place” directive would generally apply for only a few hours. The county’s stay-at-home order prompted by COVID-19, by contrast, will be enforced for at least the next three weeks.

This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 2:39 PM.