N.C. pauses in Safer at Home Phase 2,
adds face covering mandate
Governor Roy Cooper and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen today announced that North Carolina will remain in Safer at Home Phase 2 for three more weeks. Cooper also announced that face coverings must be worn when people are in public places as officials seek to stabilize concerning trends of increasing viral spread.
Cooper and Cohen were joined by Dennis Taylor, President of the North Carolina Nurses Association and Eugene A. Woods, President and CEO of Atrium Health.
“North Carolina is relying on the data and the science to lift restrictions responsibly, and right now our increasing numbers show we need to hit the pause button while we work to stabilize our trends,” said Governor Cooper. “We need to all work together so we can protect our families and neighbors, restore our economy, and get people back to work and our children back to school.”
“I know North Carolinians are strong, resilient and care deeply about our communities. We pride ourselves on helping our neighbors. The best way we can do that now is by taking the simple action of wearing a face covering that covers your nose and mouth. If we each do our part, we can get back to the people and places we love,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, NCDHHS Secretary.
Growing evidence shows that cloth face coverings, when worn consistently, can decrease the spread of COVID-19, especially among people who are not yet showing symptoms of the virus. Until now, face coverings had been strongly recommended. Under today’s executive order, people must wear face coverings when in public places where physical distancing is not possible.
- Click here to read the entire release.
Health releases new COVID Dashboard with updated information on county cases
Orange County Health has unveiled a new dashboard that provides up-to-date information on the status of COVID within the county.
The dashboard is updated daily and is accessible from the Orange County website's main
COVID page. The dashboard is also available in
Spanish.
The dashboard presents data, including overall number of cases and deaths, demographic data in age, gender,ethnicity and race and a graph showing the number of cases over time. The case counts are updated daily. Demographic info is updated on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Data is based on the N.C. Electronic Disease Surveillance System and is a day behind the data provided by NCDHHS but has more comprehensive informaton.
- Click here for the weekly COVID-19 press release from OC Health.