Mecklenburg County will drop its mask mandate. Here’s when it ends.
Mecklenburg County’s mask mandate will be lifted Feb. 26, ending a policy that was designed to curb the spread of COVID-19 during a peak surge of the virus but that the county rarely, if ever, enforced.
The Mecklenburg County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to end the requirement. Businesses are still allowed to implement their own mask requirements and the county continues to recommend wearing them.
The county’s current mandate launched in late August as the delta variant increased the virus’ spread throughout the country. Despite the mandate, which required people to wear masks in most indoor public spaces, many residents did not comply. Those who didn’t wear masks didn’t face punitive consequences.
During Wednesday’s meeting, dozens of people opposed to the mandate held signs in the chamber of the government center where the county commissioners held their meeting. The majority did not wear masks, and board chairman George Dunlap suspended the mandate for the meeting’s duration.
A CMPD spokesperson told the Observer on Tuesday that it hasn’t issued any mask-related violations since the mandate began in August. Neither has Mecklenburg County Public Health, according to a spokesperson.
After a major outbreak at a church in October 2020, the county issued a rare imminent hazard order to halt activities at that church. But that enforcement measure was an anomaly, and it came prior to the county’s current mandate.
Shortly after the current mask mandate was announced in August, a different church warned the county that it would face a lawsuit if it tried to enforce mask-wearing at their facility.
Debating the end of the mandate
During the meeting Wednesday, most members of the public who spoke to the board were in favor of eliminating the mandate. Most pointed to the harm they believed masks have had on children.
“Our children deserve normalcy,” said Michelle Connolly, who received applause at the end of her speech.
Stacy Staggs, who spoke against removing the mandate, said she feared for the safety of people who are immunocompromised.
“The message is clear,” she said. “My children, kids like ours, those who are immunocompromised, are not welcome in the county of Mecklenburg.”
“Brainwashed!” one attendee yelled out during Staggs’ speech. Dunlap reminded the crowd that the board had the power to remove people from the chamber.
Commissioner Elaine Powell said the board was “bombarded with emails” from both sides, including from people who thought the mandate was more of a power play by officials than an effort to keep people safe. She said that wasn’t the case.
“We really have done the best we can to protect public health,” she said.
Commissioner Leigh Altman said she was concerned about diverging from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, which recommends wearing masks in communities with substantial rates of transmission.
Raynard Washington, the county’s public health director, told Altman he still recommends masking. “This is not getting rid of the masks, this is getting rid of the mandate,” he said.
What’s next for masks at CMS
The county’s policy does not have any effect on the mask requirement in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, an issue that has been divisive with school boards across the state. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has its own mask mandate independent of the county’s.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is scheduled to have a press conference Thursday at 3 p.m. to address the state’s recommendations for school districts. Washington said on Wednesday that K-12 and childcare providers should establish plans now to transition to mask-optional by early March 2022.
CMS has been following state and county COVID-19 rules and related restrictions since the beginning of the school year, when COVID-19 vaccines were unavailable for children younger than 12.
State officials recommend, but do not require, schools to issue mandates for masks indoors curb the spread of the virus.
A district official told the Observer Wednesday that the school board is not expected to call a special meeting this week to discuss CMS’ mask policy, but it will be on the agenda for the Feb. 22 meeting. The board is not scheduled to vote on the mask policy again until March 8.
In October, CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston outlined the factors the district’s COVID-19 response team would consider “when Mecklenburg’s mask mandate ends,” including metrics like local case rate and positivity rate, as well as vaccination levels.
CMS officials consider the following thresholds when making possible changes to the mask mandate:
▪ 5% or less positivity rate for at least 30 days in Mecklenburg County
▪ A case rate of no more than 10 new cases per 100,000 residents sustained for 30 days
▪ Vaccination rate of 50% or more among children ages 5 to 17.
Earlier this week, Iredell-Statesville, Cleveland County and Caldwell County schools moved to optional masking.
North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore announced a bill Tuesday that would “give parents the right to opt out of student mask mandates for their children,” according to a news release.
“Let me be clear: It’s parents, not politicians who should be making these decisions for their children,” Moore said in his news release. “As other states across the country lift mask mandates and restrictions, North Carolina’s children will not be left behind.”
COVID-19 trends in the county
The end to the mask mandate comes as the county is making its way down from the surge fueled by the omicron variant of COVID-19.
The case count and positivity rate are declining, but the county is still well above the 5% positivity threshold that was its previous bar to end the mandate. Cases have declined 87% since mid-January, and the positivity rate has dropped 37% since late-January, according to Washington’s presentation Wednesday.
Washington said percent positivity and case counts were becoming increasingly unreliable to determine virus transmission across the county. Instead, he said the county would shift focus to wastewater monitoring and reports from emergency departments.
He added that free masks and vaccines — the most effective way to combat serious illness from the virus — are now widely available, and that the virus is here to stay.
“We must learn to adapt,” Washington said, “and adjust to live with it.”
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 9:40 PM.
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