North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed a new executive order on Tuesday aimed to help workers furloughed by employers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He also spoke about the budget proposal his administration plans to make at the General Assembly’s meeting next week and when a decision will be shared regarding the state’s stay at home order.

The executive order is to help employees given a severance or furlough payment when laid off in the last month, according to Cooper. The order makes these employees now able to qualify for unemployment compensation, the latest step the governor has taken to ease such measures.

“Our state has sent almost $580 million to [more than] 257,000 people who’ve filed unemployment claims since the start of this pandemic,” Cooper said in a press conference on Tuesday. “The Employment Security Commission continues to make improvements in its filing process and call center, but more work must be, and is being, done.”

With the General Assembly meeting on Tuesday, April 28, Cooper also said he will be bringing a budget proposal to the table with other legislators to address the state’s economy. He said the central areas the proposal seeks to address are public health and safety, schools, core state government services, small businesses and local government assistance.

The governor also said the state is aiming to provide further relief to small businesses with the Rapid Recovery Program, which is now active and is run through the non-profit Golden LEAF Foundation.

While Cooper did not announce an extension or end to North Carolina’s stay at home order, which he issued in late March in an effort to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, he indicated a decision would be made by the end of the week. He also commented on the frustration of some North Carolinians who gathered in Raleigh on Tuesday to protest the stay at home order. He said people need only to look at New York and other states with overwhelmed hospitals to see the importance of staying at home to thoroughly mitigate the virus’ spread.

“I think most everyday North Carolinian understands we have to approach this responsibly,” he said, “with public health, safety and saving lives at the forefront, but also understanding we do need to ease restrictions in order to cushion this blow to the economy and get more people back to work.”

The current statewide stay at home order is slated to last through April 30.

Photo via NC Department of Public Safety.

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