North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper extended the statewide stay at home order, but shared a plan on Thursday to gradually ease the state back into business as COVID-19 cases lessen.

Cooper held a press conference with health officials where he announced how North Carolina will begin its “new normal” once increased testing, tracing and tracking of trends is done. But he said more time is needed to slow the spread of the coronavirus before those restrictions are lifted, extending the stay at home order through May 8.

“I will not risk the health of our people or the health of our hospitals,” Cooper said. “Easing these restrictions now would do that. I know people want their lives and livelihoods back and I have a plan to do that. But first, we need to hit certain metrics because the health and safety of North Carolinians is our number-one priority.”

Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Service Dr. Mandy Cohen said the state must see a decline in trajectory of new cases before moving into phases to gradually open the state’s businesses. She said the state must see a continued decrease of COVID-like syndromic cases, decreasing or sustained leveling numbers of cases, decreasing percentage of positive tests and decreasing or sustained leveling amounts of hospitalizations.

But Cohen said as of Thursday, the state is still seeing a slight increase in cases and is currently falling short of those benchmarks the state has set to signify North Carolina’s readiness for the three-stage plan.

Cooper described the first two phases as having two to three weeks between them with the state still hitting its benchmarks. Phase 1 would allow more people to leave their homes for more commercial activity, whereas Phase 2 would reopen certain businesses that do not require close contact.

Both phases would still maintain strict social distancing requirements.

The final phase would be lifting such social distancing requirements and allow mass gatherings to happen again, meaning sporting events, concerts and businesses like barbershops and salons would be allowed to open again. This phase would need to be after four to six weeks of hitting positive benchmarks regarding COVID-19 under Phase 2.

Cooper said nursing homes and congregate long-term care facilities will not follow these phases like the rest of the state’s population, instead still following the requirements laid out by state health officials.

The governor said at any time if the state moves away from its benchmarks and cases continue to rise, the state may move back into a previous phase.

“I know the people in our state are eager to move forward,” he said. “But right now, I appreciate everyone who is taking this seriously and staying home to protect themselves and others.”

Cohen said the state has seen steep rises in positive cases the last two days because the tests are being issued at a higher rate than before, leading to more positive results. She said her department will continue to study the trends of percent positive cases, as well as trajectory of hospitalizations, to inform the state government when to move to the phases.

Cohen also said amounts of personal protective equipment, or PPE, will factor into the decision-making of when to move to phases. She said, however, many of the state’s health care facilities lacked the ideal 30-day reserves of gowns and N95 masks, two of the most in-demand pieces of PPE.

Cooper said an announcement about the plan for the state’s public schools and how to complete instruction for the 2019-2020 academic year will be delivered on Friday.

A full list of what the phases entail, and the NCDHHS benchmarks to begin the phases, can be found on the governor’s website.

 

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