CHARLOTTE — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to announce Thursday whether the stay-at-home order will be extended and what guidelines for reopening will look like. The statewide order is set to expire April 29.
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Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio and Health Director Gibbie Harris said during Wednesday night’s county commission meeting they want the stay-at-home order to be extended until May 13.
[Mecklenburg County shares additional guidance on stay-at-home order]
“It is probably not a best public health practice to look at widely opening up again in our community,” Harris said. “We still need social distancing, and we need a stay-at-home order.”
If Cooper chooses not to extend, Diorio doesn’t think the county can extend its order because they’d need consensus from all the local towns, which they don’t have now.
"I think it is fairly mixed," Diorio said. "I think that there are some town mayors that are interested in not extending the order, and there are some that may be supportive."
Diorio didn’t name names but, effectively, Mecklenburg County towns can veto and, therefore, block an extension of the stay-at-home order. That’s frustrating to some commissioners, including Trevor Fuller, who said some people are politicizing the pandemic.
"I believe that politics have entered into this decision, which should be predominately a public health decision," Fuller said. "It makes no sense that an entity that has no responsibility for public health can veto the entity that does have responsibility for public health in a public health emergency."
The health director said a two-week extension will buy more time for the county to ramp up testing, contact tracing and get supplies. Prior to the comments by Diorio and Harris, residents urged commissioners to not ignore the economic impact of an extension.
Several residents called on leaders Wednesday night to keep that in mind.
“Calculated risk with reopening knowing that the so-called cure is far worse than the virus itself," Fawnda Hill said.
"To miss a call on a snow day is annoying. To miss a call on a pandemic and the severity of a virus is and will be devastating," Adam Huminsky said.
The county manager is forming a committee that is composed of business owners and community leaders to develop a plan to responsibly and gradually reopen the economy. Representatives include people from sports teams like the Hornets and Panthers and owners of small businesses like Girl Tribe and Sycamore Brewing.
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