‘We need everyone to do their part:’ Herd immunity looks far off, Charlotte experts say

Mecklenburg Public Health Director Gibbie Harris on Thursday urged caution as major coronavirus restrictions are slated to end Friday afternoon under North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s latest executive order.

“If we are to continue moving towards more openings and less restrictions, we need everyone to do their part,” Harris said in a news conference. “We need everyone to get vaccinated.”

Masks will no longer be required outdoors, Cooper announced Wednesday. And the mass gathering limits will expand to 100 people indoors and 200 people outdoors. This phase is a precursor to a further easing of restrictions on June 1, including limits on business capacity and distancing requirement.

Harris said the decision to lift outdoor mask mandates is a “reasonable first step,” especially as temperatures rise.

“Even if we had the mask mandate in place, I think we’d have problems with people wearing masks for very long when they’re outside any period of time,” Harris said. “We’re looking forward to people having a little more freedom and hopefully complying with the other things that we know really will have a strong impact, which is wearing that mask inside, continuing to do social distancing and avoid crowds.”

The indoor mask rule may also lift, Cooper said, when at least two-thirds of adults get at least their first vaccine shot.

But it would be a “heavy lift,” to get two-thirds of adults vaccinated by June 1, Harris said.

Herd immunity still off

Nearly 441,000 Mecklenburg residents, or about 40% of the county population, have received at least one shot as of late Wednesday, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. And almost 317,000 residents, or 28.5% of the population, are fully vaccinated.

The threshold for local herd immunity could range between 65% to 85%, the Observer has reported.

Mecklenburg County is seeing less demand for vaccines, Harris said Thursday. That’s partially due to a lack of urgency among younger residents. In response, the county is bringing shots directly to bars and breweries, including Catawba Brewing Company and Camp North End, to make vaccinations as convenient as possible.

In a separate briefing Thursday, Dr. Lewis McCurdy, specialty director of infectious diseases at Atrium Health, said herd immunity “seems further and further away” with the public’s diminished demand for the vaccine.

“I do think herd immunity is the best way for us as a larger community to collectively get out of this pandemic sooner rather than later,” McCurdy said. “It’s a reason for people to continue to get vaccinated so we can try to reach that number.”

Harris said she hopes to see an uptick in people getting inoculated over the next few weeks as healthcare providers bring vaccines to new locations, such as mobile and walk-in clinics.

Atrium, Novant Health and Mecklenburg County Public Health this week all resumed use of the Johnson & Johnson one-dose regimen, after federal regulators recommended a pause for the shot as they investigated reports of serious blood clots. Harris emphasized all three vaccines authorized for emergency use are safe and effective.

Dr. Meg Sullivan, the county’s medical director, said Mecklenburg is ramping up vaccinations to homebound residents as part of Public Health’s equity plan. The health department also is continuing to hold smaller vaccine clinics in marginalized communities.

COVID is ‘mostly stable’

Despite rising vaccination rates, Mecklenburg is still grappling with hundreds of new infections each day. The new daily caseload dropped to around 150 in early March, but has since climbed to 230.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased in April in Mecklenburg, after dropping through January, February and March.

Harris called the trends “mostly stable” on Thursday, despite an “uptick in hospitalizations.”

“Unfortunately, the main point is that (the COVID-19 trends) are all higher than we want them to be as we move forward into the summer,” Harris said.

And hospitalizations and recent deaths are shifting to younger populations, Harris said Thursday.

Mecklenburg has logged 109,737 cases since the start of the pandemic, N.C. DHHS reported Thursday afternoon. County officials say 944 residents have died of coronavirus-related complications.

This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 2:05 PM.