With classes set to begin at UNC next week, Chapel Hill is warning residents that misdemeanors are possible for those who violate North Carolina’s executive order regarding large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.
This comes a few days after a viral video emerged on social media showing a large group of young women — none of whom are wearing masks — emerging from a house a few blocks from UNC’s campus. The video has since been deleted, but was uploaded to YouTube by INDY Week.
Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger told 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck that the town doesn’t want to start handing out citations, but action must be taken if this trend continues during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We want to be able to send a clear message that is just not going to be tolerated or accepted,” Hemminger said. “But no one wants to start giving out citations for not wearing a mask. We want to help educate people to understand how important it is to protect other people because you can be asymptomatic and spread it to a lot of people in a gathering.”
In addition, the town announced that Chapel Hill will see increased police patrols downtown and in student neighborhoods this weekend.
“Our goal continues to be no charges for community members. To accomplish that goal, we must have voluntary compliance with state and local health orders,” said Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue. “We understand that people are returning to our community from different parts of the state and country where expectations and standards may be different. We will lead with education efforts to ensure everyone is aware of our high standards for the health and safety of everyone in our community. And, we will enforce those standards when necessary.”
Violations of state or local declarations of emergency are Class 2 misdemeanors and are punishable by fine or a jail sentence. Violations carry up to a $1,000 fine and up to 60 days in jail for repeat violators. Charges will continue to be reserved for repeat violators and glaring violations of the crowd limitations.
Undergraduate classes at UNC begin on Monday and thousands of students have already made their way back to Chapel Hill. New signs posted around campus encourage mask-wearing and traffic patterns have been implemented in buildings.
Orange County Health Director Quintana Stewart sent a letter to UNC campus leadership last week recommending that classes be held virtually for at least the first five weeks of the semester. The county cannot shut down classes at the university, but students and faculty members held “die-in” protest on campus and called for a change in UNC’s reopening plan.
WRAL reported that the women in the viral video were associated with the Chi Omega sorority. Hemminger said sororities and fraternities — some of which are not located on campus — were required to contact the health director regarding their plans for the fall semester.
“Each sorority and fraternity house has had to file a plan with the health director on how they propose to organize themselves, because they are residential places, they have their own cafeteria, they have their meetings. Some of these houses have over 100 students in them. So how are they going to plan those gatherings?”
In a letter to Greek life leadership earlier this week, UNC said students who “blatantly disregard” health guidelines and standards — including hosting large gatherings — could face disenrollment. UNC student organizations that do not comply “jeopardize their university recognition” and could lose funding and access to campus resources and facilities.
Although the residence in the video was not a sorority house, Hemminger said those in attendance were still in violation of the state’s executive order regarding large gatherings. Under Phase 2, gatherings of more than 10 people in a single indoor space and more than 25 people outdoors are prohibited.
Hemminger was one of several local elected officials who signed onto a letter calling for UNC to follow the recommendations made by Orange County’s health department, which also calls for limiting on-campus housing.
Orange County has already enforced health guidelines with legal action on at least one other occasion. In April, a Hillsborough resident was charged for his involvement in a block party that had 30 to 50 people in attendance.
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Isn’t this a violation of the State mandate on gatherings of more than 25 people? Seems like the officers of the Sorority should be held accountable (fined, arrested, whatever the violation recourse.) (And is it me, or does this whole scene remind you of the pack mentality of Middle School girls!)