Following guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control, Governor Roy Cooper announced new executive orders in North Carolina that lift most mask requirements for fully-vaccinated people and social distancing measures.

Cooper shared the change to public health guidelines on Friday afternoon, marking a shift back to much of life before the coronavirus pandemic led him to enact executive orders in 2020. The announcement finishes the scaling back of mass gathering limits, capacity limits and other public health guidelines the governor announced in April.

“Today is a great day,” Cooper said in his comments about the decision, which is effectively immediately. “But the work is not yet done and people getting vaccinated will get it done. The CDC’s guidance affirms that getting vaccinated is the way through this. We can take this step today because the science shows our focus on getting people vaccinated is working.”

In April, Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, said North Carolina aimed lift the face mask requirement for indoor settings until at least two-thirds of adults in the state have at least one dose of the vaccine and COVID-19 trends are stable. As of Friday, 51 percent of adults in the state have received at least their first dose.

Following the CDC easing indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to safely stop wearing masks inside in most places, however, Cooper’s administration changed its stance.

“I’m so proud of the incredible progress we have made in beating back this pandemic,” Cohen said Friday. “Vaccines are incredibly effective at protecting individuals from this terrible virus. As more and more people get vaccinated, the results show in our improving metrics, with lower cases, hospitalizations and deaths.”

The state health secretary said there will still be some mask requirements in place with the governor’s new executive order. For both people fully vaccinated and not, face coverings will be required in health care settings, on public transportation, in prisons and homeless shelters, in schools and at summer camps. Cooper also said businesses are allowed to choose whether they want to continue requiring masks for employees and customers.

The governor did take time Friday, though, to urge those who are not yet vaccinated to listen to health experts or their personal doctors and get vaccine shots.

“With more people not wearing masks going forward, and COVID-19 and its more infectious variants spreading,”  said Cooper, “there is a real risk that unvaccinated people can get it. Please be responsible and wear a mask until you get vaccinated.”

As of Friday, North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services reports 989,338 positive cases of COVID-19 in the state across the pandemic, with 1,501 new cases reported since Thursday. 926 people are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, while 12,862 people died from the virus and its complications.

Featured image via Travis Long / News & Observer

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