Will Mecklenburg again have mask mandate? Here’s what the health director says.
Mecklenburg County residents, even those who are fully vaccinated, should start wearing masks again indoors, Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said Wednesday.
Harris stopped short of issuing a mask mandate Wednesday, saying during a news conference she wants the public to follow updated CDC recommendations and she urged anyone who has not gotten a COVID-19 vaccine to do so as soon as possible.
Businesses should also require patrons to wear masks, the health director said.
“Masking is still important in our community,” Harris said.
Just last Friday, Harris told the Observer that Mecklenburg would not be imposing any new coronavirus-related restrictions or guidelines, despite soaring spread of the highly contagious delta variant.
“Vaccines are still critically important,” she said. “We need to make sure that people are being vaccinated.”
More than 50% of recent Mecklenburg County COVID-19 cases are in people ages 18 to 39, Harris said. Those age groups are less vaccinated than older age groups.
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new masks guidelines, urging even fully vaccinated people to wear masks indoors, especially in high COVID-19 transmission areas — a category that includes Mecklenburg County and the greater Charlotte region.
Research on the delta variant of COVID-19 — the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S. — has shown even fully vaccinated people may be able to transmit the virus, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday.
And Walensky said the new guidelines includes schools — everyone in K-12 schools, including teachers, staff, students and visitors should wear a mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status, she said.
Harris said Wednesday she has recommended Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools require masks in schools to help prevent outbreaks and subsequent disruptions to classrooms. The school board plans to discuss school mask requirements on Friday.
Charlotte-area hospital doctors told the Observer Wednesday they agree with the new recommendations, urging North Carolinians to wear masks and get vaccinated.
Harris said she is not ready to issue a countywide mask mandate. To have the broadest reach, such an action would require support from Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Mecklenburg commissioners’ Chairman George Dunlap, as well as the mayors of the six towns in the county.
Harris noted that some Mecklenburg residents, including children, cannot get vaccinated. Wearing a mask is about protecting them, she said.
“I would like to think that our community is going to step up and do what is necessary,” she said.
Gov. Roy Cooper will hold a press briefing on COVID-19 on Thursday afternoon. The health department will not issue any additional restrictions or guidance before Cooper’s briefing, Harris said.
Local mayors divided on masks
The prospect of a stricter masking requirement, prompted by the CDC, drew a mixed reaction from Charlotte area leaders.
A lack of local consensus earlier in the pandemic, including on the stay-at-home order and late-night alcohol curfew, had prevented Mecklenburg from enacting county-specific rules. None of those types of mandates are under review now, Harris said.
Lyles, through a city spokesman, could not be reached for comment. But throughout the pandemic, Lyles has said she would support the health director’s recommendations.
Davidson Mayor Rusty Knox said he noticed more people masking up along Main Street on Wednesday morning. And during the Board of Commissioners’ meeting Tuesday evening, several officials donned face coverings.
“We’re going to follow whatever Gov. Cooper says, and I believe that we’re going to listen to the county,” Knox told the Observer Wednesday morning. “I don’t think anyone has any problem if we go back to a mask mandate.”
Shops and restaurants in Davidson are prepared to handle other coronavirus restrictions too, Knox said, including capacity limits and a pause on indoor dining. He urged unvaccinated residents to get their COVID shots.
“Even with the high vaccination rate that we have in Davidson, there is still a small grouping of folks that don’t believe in the whole process of science here,” Knox said. “They treat this like the flu. It’s just a recipe for disaster.”
But Huntersville Mayor John Aneralla told the Observer he would not support another mask mandate, from either Harris or Cooper. He said vaccinated residents should not be penalized.
“You’re trying to tell people that the thing to do is get vaccinated, and you can go about your way of life, and be normal — and then you’re telling people you still need to put a mask on,” Aneralla said of the evolving CDC mask guidance. “I don’t think that’s the right message to send.”
In Matthews, Mayor John Higdon said he’d need to review data — including the rate of breakthrough infections among vaccinated people — that would justify “extreme action” like a new mask mandate.
“I think that would be a step backward,” Higdon said. “We certainly want to encourage our citizens to abide by what’s best and what the governor recommends.”
Rising COVID cases
Mecklenburg County COVID-19 trends like hospitalizations, positivity rate and daily cases have spiked in recent weeks, due to an increase of delta variant COVID-19 cases — a highly contagious version of the virus.
On average, Mecklenburg is logging about 260 new coronavirus infections daily, according to an Observer analysis of state public health data. At this time last month, the new daily caseload was just 40.
It’s not clear what percentage of new local cases could be the delta variant, Deputy Public Health Director Raynard Washington said. In a new pilot program with UNC Charlotte, Washington said, a random sample of 200 positive COVID-19 tests are genetically sequenced each week.
Statewide, 70% of cases have been identified as the delta variant, Washington said.
Harris said almost every ZIP code in the county has seen increases in COVID-19 cases recently.
“We need people to pay attention,” she said. “We need people to get vaccinated. We need people to wear masks.”
The county’s slowing vaccination rate has contributed to an increase in cases too, experts say. Nearly half of Mecklenburg residents are not yet vaccinated, according to the latest state public health data.
If people had continued getting vaccinated at rates comparable to the early vaccine rollout “we would be having a different conversation right now,” Atrium Health infectious disease expert Dr. Katie Passaretti said. “But unfortunately, the vaccination rate in our communities just really plateaued.”
This story was originally published July 28, 2021 at 4:19 PM.
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