NC to relax COVID restrictions, from gathering size to retail and restaurant limits
North Carolina will return to a semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy as Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday he will ease several COVID-19 restrictions, including increasing the size of gatherings and capacity limits in retail and restaurants.
“We can move forward with easing restrictions if we do it safely,” Cooper said.
The state has created three categories of occupancy restrictions: 50% capacity, 75% capacity and 100%. A range of establishments — from sports arenas and pools to movie theaters and gyms — have been sorted into each category, depending on the level of risk they present in spreading the coronavirus.
A mask mandate will remain in effect. All businesses will still be expected to maintain social distancing measures, which could limit the capacity of some establishments.
Here are some highlights of changes in the new executive order. The order goes into effect Friday at 5 p.m. and will remain in place until April 30 at 5 p.m.
▪ The gathering size limit will increase to 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors. (Previous limits have been 25 indoors and 50 people outdoors).
▪ Retail stores, salons, museums and aquariums will be allowed to open at 100% capacity (up from 50%).
▪ Restaurants, breweries, gyms, recreation facilities (bowling and rock climbing), pools and amusement parks will be open at 75% capacity indoors and 100% outdoors.
▪ Bars, movie theaters, gaming facilities, conference centers, music venues and sports arenas will be allowed to open at 50% capacity. Movie theaters and gaming facilities can operate at 75% outdoors.
▪ The alcohol curfew will be removed. (The curfew has been 11 p.m. since Feb. 26).
“We’re in a promising place,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Cooper’s most recent executive order was set to expire on Friday. North Carolina has been under coronavirus-related executive orders limiting activities for more than a year when the first coronavirus cases were detected in North Carolina.
In February, Cooper lifted a curfew, allowed bars to reopen indoors with limited capacity and raised capacity limits for sports venues and other gatherings. When evaluating whether to ease restrictions, Cooper has said he relies on data and science, preferring to use a “dimmer switch” approach to easing the limits.
While some businesses can operate at 100% outdoors, social gatherings are still limited. Cooper said the mass gathering limit outdoors “fill in the gaps when you’re not in a formal setting.” He said businesses offer a more controlled environment and can enforce social distancing and masks.
“We just don’t want that many people coming together at one time, because the more people you get together, the more chance that the virus has to be transmitted,” Cooper said.
He said lifting capacity limits can be done responsibly. As more people are vaccinated, the state can “turn the corner on this pandemic,” he said.
More contagious variants
Across the state, there have been fewer COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths since a post-holiday surge.
Cohen said North Carolina is seeing metrics decrease among hospitalizations and percent of visits to the emergency department for COVID-like symptoms, while metrics for positive tests are beginning to level off.
“We can responsibly use our dimmer switch approach to ease restrictions,” Cohen said.
Cohen warned, though, that North Carolina needs to remain cautious, particularly as more contagious forms of the virus have been found in the state. So far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 77 samples from North Carolina have contained the variant that was first found in the United Kingdom while eight samples have contained the variant first found in South Africa.
Furthermore, Cohen noted, only a small percentage of North Carolina’s positive tests are being sequenced — the process that lets scientists know if someone is carrying a more contagious form of the virus.
“We can ease restrictions because our trends are moving in the right direction, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” Cohen said. “This virus is here, this virus is changing, it’s still contagious and it is still cruel. It still takes someone’s life if they are not protected with a vaccine.”
Restaurant response
North Carolina restaurants have been limited to 50% capacity indoors since May 2020, with many opting to stick with takeout or delivery options only. Moving to 75% capacity marks a turn in the industry’s year-long struggle to stay in business and keep the virus from spreading, said Jason Smith, who owns Cantina 18 and Harvest 18 restaurants.
“It is an exciting week,” said Smith, who serves on the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association board of directors. “It’s exciting that people are coming back out, we’re seeing guests for the first time who have had both of their vaccine shots, we have warmer weather and our doors and windows remain open.”
In the cases of bars, they were closed much of the past year until they were permitted to open at 30% outdoor capacity in October. In February, bars were able to open indoors at 30% capacity.
Smith said the first couple months of the pandemic, when restaurants were shut down across the country, were the hardest months of his career. Over the last year, staying in business meant serving holiday take-home meals and serving tacos on dreary nights in January and February.
“We made it through,” Smith said. “We were under a lot of pressure to pay rent and gas and power, so it made sense to stay open, and we made it through.”
While Smith could add tables to his dining rooms and serve more diners, he said he’ll hold off for a while so people aren’t overwhelmed when stepping foot in a restaurant possibly for the first time in months.
“We’re going to keep things spaced out,” he said. “People are coming back and we want them to feel comfortable. Once vaccines are opened up the the general population, I believe we’ll feel comfortable adding more tables.”
While there is room for excitement in the restaurant industry, others remain cautious. While more people will be allowed inside restaurants, not all restaurants are equipped to handle the influx of customers, having been forced to adjust operations during the pandemic.
“The goal is to open Centro’s dining room, but I don’t know when that will be,” said Angela Salamanca, owner of Centro in downtown Raleigh. “We’re still in (the pandemic). It’s good to see that things are changing. There’s still a lot of work to do and it’ll take a lot of muscle. If we’ve learned anything in this, it’s that we take it one step at a time.”
Salamanca said the new executive order moves the restaurant closer to opening, but not by much. Centro has kept its dining room closed since the beginning of the pandemic, serving only takeout a couple nights a week. Gallo Pelon, its upstairs mezcal bar, is open only by reservation.
Before the pandemic, Centro’s staff included 40 full- and part-time workers, but it’s now down to 10. Reopening will mean hiring more people. Salamanca said the next likely step is adding one or two more nights of takeout each week, while keeping the dining room closed.
“The unfortunate truth is we have a short staff and don’t have a lot of room to expand,” Salamanca said. “Nothing really changes for us.”
Vaccine availability, distribution
As vaccine supply increases, more people are receiving their shots. As of the end of the day Monday, 1.48 million people in North Carolina have been fully vaccinated. Another 934,725 have received at least one dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.
Cohen said 19% of North Carolina’s adults are fully vaccinated, while 32% are at least partially vaccinated. That includes vaccinations given through federal pharmacy programs.
Last week, Cooper said all adults in North Carolina would be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine by May 1, the data set by President Joe Biden.
Now, North Carolina’s eligibility extends as far as the first part of Group 4, people who have medical conditions that put them at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and people living in congregate living who have not yet been able to receive a shot.
On April 7, the rest of Group 4, including all people classified as “essential employees,” will become eligible. Cooper has not yet announced when Group 5, the final group that includes all adults, will become eligible. But at least four North Carolina counties have opened up vaccination clinics to Group 5, McClatchy News reported.
North Carolina will likely enter the second half of Group 4 earlier than the announced April 7 date and Group 5 earlier than May 1, Cooper and Cohen said.
Cooper said there is not a specific vaccination rate benchmark connected to reopening, but that it is one of multiple factors to be considered.
“As more people are vaccinated, that does figure into what we are doing,” Cooper said. “The more people we get vaccinated the better we’re going to be.”
Cohen also said that she expects North Carolina to begin receiving more doses of the Johnson & Johnson one-shot COVID-19 vaccine next week. During each of the past two weeks, North Carolina has received 11,500 of the J&J shots while the company ramps up production.
“We will be quickly working through the rest of the groups, and it will be very soon until everyone is eligible for this vaccine,” Cohen said.
With this week’s vaccine allocation from the federal government, North Carolina has shifted its strategy. Rather than sending vaccines to counties based on how many people live there, the state is deciding how many shots a county should receive based on the number of people there who remain unvaccinated.
“We do think this new formula is better at matching up where are people unvaccinated and matching it with the vaccine there and making sure we’re keeping on top of providers to get things out fast and fair,” Cohen said.
Cooper also broached the possibility of an incentive from the state government to help encourage those who might not otherwise take the vaccine to get a shot. Krispy Kreme is offering a free glazed doughnut every day this year to people who show their COVID-19 vaccination card.
There will be a point where there are more shots than people willing to take them, Cooper said.
“We probably do need to consider some kinds of incentives to get people to get vaccinated,” Cooper said. “So I’ll be glad to talk with health officials, work with the legislature.”
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 2:11 PM with the headline "NC to relax COVID restrictions, from gathering size to retail and restaurant limits."
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