Gov. Cooper’s New COVID Curfew to Address Alarming Case Counts In Effect Friday
RALEIGH, NC – Yesterday (Dec. 8), Governor Roy Cooper announced that North Carolina will begin a Modified Stay at Home Order starting this Friday, December 11 after a sharp increase in key COVID-19 trends. Executive Order No. 181 requires people to stay at home between 10 pm and 5 am. .The Order further requires restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, personal care businesses, and more to close at 10 pm. Travel to and from work; to obtain food, medical care, fuel, or social services; or to take care of a family member is exempted.
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North Carolina has broken single-day case records three times in the past week, having more than 6,000 new cases two days in a row over the weekend. Governor Cooper stressed that further action will be taken if these trends don’t improve.
“We already have strong safety protocols and capacity limitations in place – including a statewide mask requirement. With this additional action beginning Friday, we hope to get these numbers down. Our new modified Stay At Home order aims to limit gatherings and get people home where they are safer, especially during the holidays,” Gov. Cooper said. “It’s also a reminder that we must be vigilant the rest of the day – wearing a face mask when we are with people we don’t live with, keeping a safe distance from others, and washing our hands a lot.”
Governor Cooper was clear that further action would be taken to slow the spread of the virus if trends do not improve. This could require further limiting of restaurant dining, indoor entertainment, or shopping and retail capacity restrictions, among other safety protocols.
Dr. Cohen also shared an update on North Carolina’s COVID-19 County Alert System map, noting that every county in the state is experiencing community spread. More than 80 percent of counties are either red or orange. Forty-eight counties are now red, recording critical levels of community spread — more than double the critical counties since November 23 — and 34 orange counties have substantial community spread.
Read the update to see where each county stands.