‘At a crossroads’: NC issues urgent call for COVID vaccinations, but no mask mandate

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper struck an urgent and cautionary tone Thursday, calling out people who are unvaccinated for perpetuating the coronavirus pandemic, as the country sees a resurgence in cases and hospitalizations due to the contagious delta variant and low vaccination rate.

He also made a change in vaccination requirements for some government employees, encouraging the private sector to do the same.

“As you will see, after months of low numbers, our trends have turned sharply in the wrong direction,” Cooper said at a news conference. “I want to be clear about why: Unvaccinated people are driving this resurgence and getting themselves and other people sick.”

He stopped short of reinstating a mask mandate, though, across the state.

Instead, he is requiring some North Carolina state employees in Cabinet agencies to show proof of vaccination. Those who don’t will need to wear masks and be subject to regular testing for COVID-19, Cooper said.

The governor also encouraged private employers to do the same, at a minimum.

“We are at a crossroads in this pandemic, and we need the private sector to help us increase vaccine rates,” Cooper said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its guidance earlier this week to recommend that people in COVID-19 hotspots wear masks indoors, regardless of their vaccination status. The CDC also recommends universal masking in schools, regardless of vaccination status.

Cooper said North Carolina also is changing its own school guidance to align with the CDC’s but won’t require masks, just encourage them at all school levels.

School districts are responsible for requiring schools to have mask mandates, and those districts would also have the authority to require vaccinations, Cooper said.

The renewed warnings come as North Carolina reports over 3,200 new cases, the highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases since late February, according to the North Carolina DHHS COVID-19 dashboard.

“This is a pandemic right now, of the unvaccinated. The virus will find them,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

People who are unvaccinated make up most of the cases where people are getting sick and hospitalized, Cooper said.

“The delta variant of COVID is even more contagious to those who are not vaccinated,” the governor said. “It doesn’t matter your age or race. If you are not vaccinated, you are at great risk.

“Get a vaccine today. Don’t wait until you or a family member is sick and going on a ventilator,” he said.

COVID-19 vaccinations are available for free for anyone age 12 and older.

Cooper already said last week that he would let the current executive order expire on Friday, which means lifting statewide mask mandates in settings like schools, public transit, prisons, childcare and health care.

But, Cohen said, people are still urged to continue wearing masks in health care settings and public transit.

“This moment requires action,” Cohen said.

Cooper also encouraged those, even those vaccinated, to follow CDC guidance on wearing masks in vaccine hotspots.

“Until more people are vaccinated, this is the reality we have to confront,” Cooper said.

Cohen said the virus doesn’t care about county lines, but does care about low vaccination rates.

“We know where this is going to be an issue,” Cohen said. She gave examples of the Sandhills region of the state and the area around Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

New executive order

The employees affected by Cooper’s new executive order include about 55,000 workers who report to Cooper, either directly or indirectly, in agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Public Safety, Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and Department of Administration.

They will have until Sept. 1 to comply with the new order. Cooper did not say what the consequences of non-compliance would be.

State workers under Council of State agencies, which includes the treasurer’s office, Department of Public Instruction and attorney general, are not subject to the new vaccine verification order by Cooper. Those decisions are made by those state agency leaders.

The move mirrors what is happening at the federal government level, at putting restrictions on workers who are unvaccinated.

While Cooper’s new order does not require vaccinations for Cabinet agency employees, other public and private agencies are starting to require vaccinations.

Earlier this week, workers and volunteers at all state-run health care facilities were told to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30, The N&O previously reported. Duke and UNC hospitals also recently started requiring their employees to be vaccinated.

Urge for vaccinations

In North Carolina, 57% of people 18 years or older have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared to 61% who have received at least one dose. Both are lower than the national average; 60.2% of Americans 18 or older are fully vaccinated, and 69.3% have received at least one dose.

“We have a way to get out of this pandemic and that is the vaccine,” Cooper said. “The vaccine is the way to get through this.”

Cooper agreed with one reporter’s question when asked whether those who are unvaccinated are being “irresponsible.”

“I would,” Cooper said. “I mean the the evidence is stark and clear that if you don’t get vaccinated, not only are you going to cause problems for yourself, you will cause problems for other people.”

Cooper and Cohen encouraged those that are vaccinated to convince their unvaccinated family and friends to get the shot, with Cooper saying it is one of the best ways to fight vaccine disinformation.

“You may be the most important messenger we have,” Cooper said.

As of Thursday, only 26% of school-age children 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated.

On July 21, Cooper said school districts would be able to make their own mask decisions, though he and Cohen strongly urged them to follow what was then N.C. DHHS’ latest rules requiring masks in elementary and middle schools for everyone, and in high schools for those unvaccinated.

But Thursday, Cooper said the state will now comply with the federal recommendations for universal masking, but it’s ultimately up to local school districts to decide what to require.

Cooper said school districts who have voted recently to make masks optional should reconsider that decision with an eye on the local data about coronavirus cases in their districts.

Mike Sprayberry made his final press conference appearance of his career as director of emergency management for the state. His retirement party was Wednesday.

“Go ahead and get your vaccination. That’s the only way we’re going to bust this pandemic,” Sprayberry said.

Cooper is a Democrat, and the Republican-controlled General Assembly has pushed back against many of his orders over the past year and four months of the pandemic. North Carolina has been under a state of emergency since March 2020, when the pandemic first reached the state.

Cooper told reporters last week that he plans to continue to keep the state of emergency in place. The state of emergency gives some flexibility to DHHS’ COVID-19 response.

Republicans balked at previous restrictions on businesses — all of which were lifted earlier this year — and the statewide mask mandate, also since lifted. Cooper lifted the statewide mask mandate in May after the CDC changed its guidance.

Senate leader Phil Berger told The N&O last week that mandating vaccinations at schools would be “problematic” while vaccines are listed as emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration, which has yet to give final approval.

Delta is more contagious

The state reported 3,268 new cases Thursday, up 635 from Wednesday’s 2,633 new cases. The News & Observer reported Wednesday that average new daily cases have gone up sixfold in the last month due to the spread of the delta variant — a more transmissible form of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 — largely among people who have not been vaccinated.

Cohen said the delta variant is “much, much more contagious” than the original strain of the virus. She said that those infected with the original strain of the virus caused on average two to three other people to get sick.

Those with the delta variant, however, infect on average, six other people, she said.

Cohen said epidemiologists are unsure whether the delta variant is more deadly. But she said she thinks hospitalizations and deaths will continue to increase as more people get infected, due to the contagious nature of the variant.

As for other metrics, the positivity rate on Tuesday, the last data available, was 9.3%. Health officials have said a rate of less than 5% is an indication that the spread of the coronavirus is slowing.

There are 1,141 people currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 in North Carolina, per the dashboard. Of these, 274 people — or 24% — are adult ICU COVID-19 patients.

Cohen said that the share of hospitalizations among those age 50 to 59 has increased by 200% in recent weeks.

Leah Boyd contributed to this story.