‘Wear a mask,’ Mecklenburg health director urges Panthers fans ahead of season opener
Last week, Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris cautioned against fans attending Duke’s Mayo Classic college football games in Charlotte over the weekend.
Now, ahead of the Carolina Panther’s season opener against the Jets in Charlotte on Sunday, she once again urged county residents to get the COVID-19 vaccine and wear masks.
Still, Harris said she’s hoping the Panthers game won’t be “as much of a problem as what we saw this (past) weekend.
“There is no way that there was not COVID circulating in the crowd (at the Mayo Classic),” Harris told the Observer Wednesday.
While she says people gathering in large crowds with little mask-wearing — even outdoors — is not ideal, she hopes the Panthers game will be different for several reasons.
With the Mayo Classic, people were coming to Charlotte from all over. Those people may not have known — or cared — about the county’s indoor mask mandate, Harris said.
She hopes fans heading to Panthers games at Bank of America Stadium are aware of the mask mandate. The mandate does not require people to wear masks outdoors, but Harris said people in packed areas like a football stadium should wear one anyway.
“The message is ‘get vaccinated,’ ” Harris said. “And when you’re in a big crowd like that wear a mask. It’s that simple.”
The Panthers have worked closely with the county to implement COVID-19 safety measures throughout the pandemic, Harris said. “They have been focused on that from the beginning and making sure it’s a safe environment,” she said.
Daily COVID-19 cases and the testing positivity rate in Mecklenburg began decreasing for the first time in weeks, according to county data released Friday. But Harris said it could be a blip, especially with students returning to school and people gathering for the Labor Day holiday weekend and sports games.
She expects to see another spike in cases over the next two weeks as COVID-19 trends begin to reflect the impact of Labor Day weekend.
She’s hopeful trends could begin moving in the right direction after that, but tempered that hope with the reminder that more holidays and cold weather — which often brings increased spread of viruses — are incoming.
“We just need to be smart about this,” she said.
Crowded bars and restaurants
Sporting events like Panthers games and the Mayo Classic drive crowds to Charlotte bars and restaurants.
Harris said the health department did not receive many official complaints about masking or crowds in restaurants and bars over the weekend, but she heard many places in uptown were very crowded.
Over at French Quarter Restaurant near Romare Bearden Park, just a short walk from Bank of America Stadium, the turnout for ESPN’s set-up for College GameDay was “more than what was expected.”
“It was the biggest crowd since before COVID,” restaurant general manager Angelo Tsepelis said.
He said business was non-stop from opening at 11 a.m. to closing at 11 p.m. The restaurant even ran out of two beers — Bud Light and Miller Light.
Tsepelis anticipates large crowds for Panthers games, too, since several bars and restaurants uptown closed during the pandemic. He called the South Church Street area “the drinking district on this side of town.”
While French Quarter Restaurant staff are required to wear masks, Tsepelis said they won’t enforce that customers to do the same.
Like other businesses, as COVID cases increase, business is dropping off again. He said lunch business has seen a drastic turn since July.
“We can’t turn away business right now,” Tsepelis said. “These games help us out.”
And at Merchant & Trade, there were lines to get in as the South College Street rooftop bar sat at full capacity throughout the busy weekend.
“This was the biggest crowd that we have seen since COVID began,” said Chris Baliles, director of food and beverage at Tryon Park Hotel.
The bar, which isn’t fully staffed as many businesses continue to see worker shortages, expects more crowds for Panthers games. “We expect the Panthers’ crowd to not be quite as large, as last weekend the game piggy-backed on a holiday weekend,” Baliles said.
Health director recommendations
Going forward, Harris recommends Mecklenburg County residents avoid crowded indoor settings as much as possible.
“The more you can do outdoors, obviously the better,” Harris said. “If you are going indoors, take a look at the place you’re thinking about going into. If it’s wall-to-wall people and nobody’s wearing a mask, I’d think twice about going in there.”
Here’s what else Harris suggests for fans attending the Panthers game:
Know your risk: If you or someone you live with is immunocompromised, older, has underlying health conditions or is a child who can’t get vaccinated, Harris suggests avoiding crowds.
“The likelihood that you may be exposed is pretty good,” she said about crowds like Panthers games or the Mayo Classic. “And you’re just taking it home, which is something no one wants to be responsible for.”
Think about the community: But getting vaccinated, wearing masks and avoiding large crowds is about much more than the risk to a single person, Harris said.
“You can’t just think about the impact that this has on you as an individual, not while we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” she said. “You’ve got to think about the broader community, and how you might be contributing or not contributing to the pandemic.”
Get vaccinated and wear a mask: The best thing county residents can do to slow the spread of the coronavirus is get vaccinated, she said. Just 53% of all Mecklenburg residents are fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to state data.
”The answer to all of this is vaccinations,” Harris said.
“If you are able to be vaccinated, if you’re eligible for a vaccine, please get that as soon as possible,” she added. “And in the meantime, we all need to be wearing masks indoors and be very conscious of your surroundings when you’re outdoors.”
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