Meck clarifies new COVID health directive, as questions remain about its effectiveness

New coronavirus health guidelines from Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris unleashed a wave of confusion this week, with multiple private schools and colleges swiftly reverting to remote learning as they sought clarity on the latest recommendations.

The directive in part says people should use virtual options for school and work. That prompted a frantic scramble among school administrators in and around Charlotte, abruptly upending plans to gradually ease into a return to classroom.

Harris’ directive also says that people ages 65 and older, as well as individuals considered high risk for coronavirus-related complications, should avoid leaving their homes.

The directive comes with an increased sense of urgency, Harris said at a news conference Wednesday morning. A 22-year-old died with COVID-19 in Mecklenburg Tuesday — the county’s youngest coronavirus death to date, Harris said.

That death was a driving factor in issuing the new directive, Harris said. She said the 22-year-old had some underlying conditions that may have led to coronavirus complications, but she wouldn’t provide more demographic data about the individual.

It is unclear how and where that person may have contracted COVID-19.

The new guidelines — known as a public health directive — unveiled during a county commissioners’ Tuesday afternoon are not a binding government mandate, Harris said. “I want to clarify this directive involves and includes the best possible public health recommendations that we can make right now based on the urgent need in our community to get this virus under control,” she said.

The directive is effective immediately and will remain in effect until Feb. 2. Harris said she would prefer not to extend it, saying the “three weeks of calm” should curb coronavirus exposure risks.

“I am pleased that people are taking it seriously,” Harris said, referencing a string of school closures. “Because that is the only way we’re going to make the difference that we’re going to make.”

The directive largely echoed one last week by Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, urging people to stay home as much as possible and avoid gathering with individuals outside of their households. But Harris’ directive does not carry the same weight as a mandate or order.

Last fall, for example, Harris had issued an abatement of imminent hazard order after convocation events at the United House of Prayer for All People prompted Mecklenburg’s largest COVID-19 outbreak to date. And over the summer, Mecklenburg officials imposed a late-night alcohol curfew to limit gatherings at bars and restaurants that could fuel more outbreaks.

County Manager Dena Diorio said the directive is intended to “increase our community’s willingness to help us all get this current situation under control.” The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department told the Observer that officers would only issue citations as a last resort.

Mecklenburg has logged 73,477 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, N.C. DHHS reported Wednesday. Local officials say 665 residents have died of coronavirus-related complications.

Nearly all deaths were among residents ages 60 and older. Yet as of Sunday, there have been 10 death deaths among adults ages 20 to 39, and 79 deaths among adults adults ages 40 to 59, according to the most recent county health data.

School plans

Schools are not a main source of COVID-19 transmission, Harris said. But with so many infections circulating, students and teaches are at greater risk of being exposed to the virus outside of school and then unknowingly spreading it in classrooms.

“Any gathering of individuals in our community right now puts people at risk,” Harris said. “That involves schools, restaurants, bars — even places of work (and) places of worship.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which had prepared to bring back students in all grades for rotating in-person learning, might scrap its plans during an emergency meeting Thursday.

CMS board chair Elyse Dashew said while the health department does not have the authority to close CMS to in-person learning, Harris’ recommendation had to be taken into consideration.

“The timing of the directive was not related in any way to the fact that there was a CMS board meeting,” Harris said. But Harris said she told CMS administrators Monday that in-person learning should be discouraged with the virus circulating so rapidly in Mecklenburg.

In an alert Tuesday night, Central Piedmont Community College announced classes would be delivered online through Feb. 2.

Some Charlotte private schools also closed their doors after Mecklenburg issued the non-binding directive.

Charlotte Country Day canceled Wednesday classes “in order to have time to respond to this directive in an adequate and safe way for our school community,” according to a notice on the school’s website. The school later said it was shifting to a remote learning model from Thursday through Jan. 22, with the Lower School having a professional day Thursday.

Charlotte Latin School closed Wednesday too, canceling in-person and remote classes. In a notice on its website, the school said it would send out more information Wednesday on remote classes planned for Thursday and Friday.

Ahead of Mecklenburg’s directive, UNC Charlotte announced on Monday that classes will be delivered remotely until Feb. 22.

“In Mecklenburg County, the positivity rate has continually remained among the highest in the state and projections anticipate the peak of the virus in early February,” Chancellor Sharon Gaber wrote in an update.

Meanwhile, six of Charlotte’s main museums said Wednesday they are closing for three week in the wake of the county’s latest directive. Echoing other institutions, the Mint Museum said in a statement it was closing as through Feb. 2 as a “preemptive measure to help curb the community spread of Covid-19.”

COVID trends

Mecklenburg’s directive also emphasizes residents exposed to the virus should quarantine, get tested and participate in contact tracing efforts.

Already, North Carolina is under a modified stay-at-home order as the new daily caseload, test positivity rate and hospitalizations swell at an alarming pace.

State and local leaders have stopped short of implementing even tighter restrictions as coronavirus conditions deteriorate. Gov. Roy Cooper has said his current measures, including a statewide mask mandate and late-night alcohol curfews, could help slow the spread of the virus if all North Carolinians stayed vigilant.

Coronavirus trends have been moving in the wrong direction for weeks.

A Thanksgiving surge is now exacerbated by Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, though it’s still to early to know the devastating ripple effects of gathering with friends and family.

Mecklenburg’s positivity rate was 15.5% in the past week — and hospitalizations have continued to rise, Harris said. She anticipates the new daily caseload will stay elevated through mid-February.

On Jan. 3, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 each day in Mecklenburg surpassed 500 for the first time, and has not dropped lower than 500 people hospitalized since then, according to county numbers.

And the two-week average of daily hospitalizations is at its highest point since the beginning of the pandemic — reporting roughly 150% the number of previous hospitalizations from the county’s July peak, county numbers show.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen just exponential growth over the last couple of months in Mecklenburg County,” Harris said. “That is the thing that continues to concern us the most. We can’t continue to maintain at this level, much less continue to see our numbers go up.”

This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 9:36 AM.