CHARLOTTE — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday he will ease many COVID-19 restrictions because cases and hospitalizations have continued to decline.
Some wonder when easing the mask mandate will happen but experts say that could be months from now.
“I’m not an anti-masker, but at what point can we go back to life, go back to normal?” resident Meg Kemp said.
Kemp, who is a mother, said the latest metrics should also lead to easing mask restrictions.
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“How are teachers teaching kindergartners to pronounce words covering their face with masks?” Kemp asked. “Then you have kids running around at recess wearing masks.”
State health officials sent a statement to Channel 9 Wednesday, saying, “While we are seeing COVID trends moving in the right direction, we still have work to do. There is still viral transmission … Wearing a mask continues to be a necessary prevention strategy.”
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A health expert told Channel 9 that even though one-third of adults in North Carolina have gotten at least one shot of the vaccine, it is not enough to lift the mask mandate.
“From a population health perspective, you’d like to see us getting closer to herd immunity, infection dropping, levels we may not be able to get to reach until early fall,” said Michael Thompson, a professor with the Department of Public Health Sciences at UNC Charlotte.
Thompson said herd immunity will happen when 70% to 80% of people have been vaccinated, which includes people who have contracted COVID-19 and recovered.
Cox Media Group
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