Meck extends COVID directive, supports CMS return with ‘safety measures’
Mecklenburg County’s COVID-19 directive urging residents to stay home as much as possible has been extended through Feb. 28 — though Public Health Director Gibbie Harris removed part of the directive that specified schools should be fully virtual, according to an email shared with The Charlotte Observer late Thursday.
The new timetable for Harris’ directive, slated to expire next Tuesday, follows a similar trajectory outlined by Gov. Roy Cooper to prolong a modified stay-at-home order and further slow the spread of COVID-19.
A copy of the amended and extended health director directive was sent to Mecklenburg commissioners Thursday afternoon. Officials said a news conference would likely be held Friday to discuss the changes, which go in effect Friday.
An email exchange between Harris and County Manager Dena Diorio — which Diorio shared with commissioners — explains infection risks remain high locally but the latest Centers for Disease Control research supports in-person learning for K-12 students as long as safety measures, such as masks and social distancing, are observed.
Although a health director cannot unilaterally impose a stay-at-home order or require public schools to close buildings, Harris’ previous directive urging virtual-only activity for businesses and schools influenced Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools leaders earlier this month to delay a plan for phased in-person classes.
“While our metrics have improved over the three weeks that our directive has been in place our number of cases, hospitalizations and positivity rate remain high,” Harris wrote in the email.
“We also know that we have the UK variant in our community and the African variant has been identified in South Carolina. Unfortunately, we have a high number of outbreaks in congregate living sites.”
North Carolina’s first case of the UK variant — considered far more contagious than other coronavirus strains circulating across the world and now in the United States — was identified in Mecklenburg last weekend, the Observer previously reported.
Still, Mecklenburg’s improved conditions are “tenuous,” Harris wrote.
Residents should still use virtual options as a substitute for in-person interaction, Harris says.
“With appropriate safety measures in place schools can be a safe location for students to learn and for school staff to support that learning,” Harris wrote to Diorio. “Public Health continues to be supportive of in classroom learning as the optimal options for our youth.”
The modified directive also points to a possible reopening of some Park & Recreation facilities that were temporarily shuttered, prompting criticism from two county commissioners.
Harris’ initial directive discouraged sports leagues, indoors pools, and indoor exercises.
In the revamped document, Harris doesn’t specify which recreational activities are discouraged, though she notes “gatherings of individuals, especially where there is close contact and challenges with masking, are a significant cause of virus spread in our community.”
Residents should stay home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., and avoid interactions with people beyond their household, Harris advises. The curfew aligns with a statewide curfew still in effect.
CMS plans
Earlier this month, the school board voted to extend remote learning through at least Feb. 12 after Harris first issued her directive recommending schools and workplaces remain remote through Feb. 2.
Under the current plan, CMS will start in-person learning Feb. 15 with pre-K, elementary, a small fraction of middle school students and some students with special needs. Middle and high school students are scheduled to return Feb. 22.
The board will hear a report from staff on readiness metrics and staffing at its Feb. 9 meeting, where it will vote on whether to maintain or modify the return to instruction plan.
In Mecklenburg, the school board has the sole authority to decide whether classrooms will be open to in-person learning.
Superintendent Earnest Winston has repeatedly emphasized that the district is ready, from an operational standpoint, to welcome children back to in-person learning. But district leadership and board members also say those precautionary steps become less effective when community spread is so high, and they have repeatedly implored the community to stop gathering and bring down the spread of the coronavirus so children can return to classrooms.
Mecklenburg has logged 84,444 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported Thursday. County officials say 766 residents have died of coronavirus-related complications.
On average, the county is adding 715 new infections each day — compared to 902 two weeks ago, according to an Observer analysis of public health data. But Harris and local hospital leaders warn COVID-19 spread remains high, with case tallies, hospitalizations and the positivity rate far exceeding volumes observed during a July peak and a brief stretch of stability in mid-October.
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 6:10 PM.