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Meck County health director says ‘numbers are moving in right direction'

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — As COVID-19 metrics start to trend in the right direction, many are wondering what it would take for Mecklenburg County to get back to normal.

Channel 9′s Joe Bruno posed that question to county health director Gibbie Harris during a news conference Wednesday and learned that we have a lot more work to do.

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Harris said she doesn’t have a specific metric she would like to see improve before the county moves into Phase 3 of reopening, but said an important key is the steady decline of our percentage of positive tests.

As of Wednesday, our percent positive rate is 7.5% and declining, which is much better than the double-digit rate we were seeing for weeks.

Nationally, a lot of people have pitched a 5% rate for reopening but Harris said states have fared better when it gets as low as 1% or 2%.

We are a long way away from that level. Harris even admitted she is not holding her breath for us to hit it, but she said the key is to keep our metrics moving down with the help of masks.

“These numbers are moving in the right direction, they are moving slowly, but they are moving,” Harris said.

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County Manager Dena Diorio said part of our decline in cases and stabilization of hospitalizations is due to proactive education. The county is going to expand its marketing campaign through September and will include ads on platforms such as Spotify, Tinder and Telemundo. The campaign will be paid for with $500,000 from the federal CARES funding.

Last month, the county issued a ban on onsite food and drink consumption after 11 p.m. in places that serve alcohol in hopes to slow community spread. The restriction applies to indoor and outdoor seating. Restaurants that serve alcohol are only allowed to offer takeout and delivery after 11 p.m. Restaurants that don’t serve alcohol can remain open for on-site consumption.

This order was put into place because some local restaurants have been operating as clubs with crowds of people not wearing masks or social distancing.

CMPD Deputy Chief Jeff Estes said over 600 places have been visited during the ban and at least 14 citations have been issued -- some to businesses that have reopened despite the governor’s order.

Many business owners told us they had no choice but to reopen. They said the restrictions have once again set back businesses that have already been hit hard financially during the pandemic. Many staples have been forced to close their doors. Diorio said there is not going to be enough funding to save every small business impacted by COVID-19 and she feels for the businesses that are not able to reopen at this time.

To help struggling businesses, the county is looking to recruit 6 ambassadors to go into the community and help businesses become and stay compliant with executive orders. Up to 16 can be hired.

The county is also providing 200,000 masks to the Board of Elections for poll workers and election officials.

As students prepare to head back to school Monday -- many with full virtual learning -- Harris said she would feel comfortable with schools reopening for part-time in-person learning if we hit 5%, but followed up by saying that would depend though on supply and staffing availability.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district has already said staff shortages have compromised its ability to offer in-person instruction in a safe manner. The district has 50 custodial vacancies and more than 80 bus driver vacancies. Leaders are also looking to hire 40 nurses and 70 teachers.

As for local college students heading back to the classroom, Harris called it “an experiment.” She said health leaders don’t know what exactly is going to happen.

“There will be cases among college students. You can’t bring that many students back into our community where there is widespread community spread and think there will not be cases,” she said.

She said we have to manage and mitigate the risk.