As NC virus cases rise, surrender is not an option - even if the president has quit

Scientists and doctors warned it was coming if stronger action wasn’t taken and here it is – another wave of coronavirus cases. And this one, coming as colder weather keeps more people indoors, could exceed the spike of midsummer.

North Carolina reported a record high of 2,716 new COVID-19 cases Friday. The numbers have averaged above 2,000 cases a day for much of the past two weeks. Hospitalizations are rising and positive tests are at 7.2 percent, above the 5 percent target level for controlling the spread. Nationally, new coronavirus cases are averaging 71,000 a day during the past week, the highest level of the pandemic.

Another economic shutdown is not the solution. That response has been exhausted. The economy is too weak to undergo another forced contraction and many people are too weary of the stress and isolation to again cut off all but essential activities.

But North Carolina and the nation can still mount an effective response. It requires a united and constant commitment to the steps that have been proven to work: wear a mask in public, maintain social distance, limit gatherings, even of family, wash hands frequently and quarantine if exposed to someone who has tested positive. Those preventative measures should be joined by a strong government effort to increase testing and contact tracing.

Gov. Roy Cooper is sympathetic to the public’s weariness with the pandemic, but he has extended Phrase 3 limits on some businesses and social activities and will continue the statewide mask mandate. His efforts, and the guidance provided by Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, have made a difference. North Carolina has one of the lowest rates of coronavirus cases per thousand people in the South. Still, the virus has taken a grim toll in the state. More than 4,100 people have died and more than 1,100 are currently hospitalized.

Efforts to stem infections in North Carolina and nationally would have been more effective had President Trump set out a national plan and encouraged mask wearing. Instead he left the response up to the states, urged them to reopen early, dismissed the advice of government doctors and scientists and has held large rallies and indoor gatherings where few people wear masks. Even contracting the virus himself didn’t change his cavalier attitude toward an infection that has killed more than 220,000 Americans.

In North Carolina, Republican leaders have followed Trump’s reckless example. Republican legislative leaders repeatedly offered bills to open bars and other businesses that present a high risk of spreading the coronavirus, only to have those bills vetoed by Cooper. GOP gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Dan Forest has called for the reopening of all schools without requiring students or teachers to wear masks.

Fittingly, it was a North Carolina Republican, former congressman and now White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who revealed that the Trump administration has given up on trying to stem the soaring number of infections. “We’re not going to control the pandemic,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. Instead the administration will focus on a providing a vaccine and developing treatments, a shift that will leave many more people vulnerable to a fatal or debilitating infection.

Those who would rather not surrender can support a wiser and more humane course in this election. Cooper and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden offer an approach that imposes limits on risky gatherings and exhorts the public to take preventive measures. Theirs in not simply a better response to the pandemic. It’s a better response for the economy. The nation cannot regain its economic footing until the infections are under control.

This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 12:00 AM with the headline "As NC virus cases rise, surrender is not an option - even if the president has quit."