‘We’re worried.’ Gov. Cooper, US HHS Secretary share COVID Delta variant concerns in NC

Vaccination rates and the need to get more people in Charlotte and the state vaccinated was front of mind on Wednesday for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who was in town to meet with U.S. Rep Alma Adams, Gov. Roy Cooper and community health leaders.

North Carolina is ready to do whatever it takes to get residents vaccinated against the coronavirus, Cooper said.

In their visit to a vaccination site at the Charlotte Transit Center in uptown, Cooper said the state has seen a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases recently — likely due to the Delta variant, which is more contagious than the original strain of the coronavirus.

“We’re worried,” Cooper said. “We’re in a race against this Delta variant. The more people we can get vaccinated, the more people we can protect from it.”

Right now, the available COVID-19 vaccines appear to provide protection from variants like Delta, Cooper said. But people need to get vaccinated quickly — before the virus mutates past the protection of the vaccine, Becerra said.

“This virus is constantly mutating,” Becerra said. “The more it mutates, the greater the chance that a mutated version will outwit and out-strengthen our vaccine. As the governor said, we have got to stay ahead of this.”

Incentives to get vaccinated

Like some other states, North Carolina has launched several incentive programs, including a $25 cash card program and the statewide million-dollar vaccine lottery. The state held its second drawing for that lottery Wednesday morning, and will announce the next winner in the coming days, Cooper said.

Before announcing the lottery program, the state had seen “a steep decline” in vaccinations, Cooper said, a decline that has leveled off since then.

Around 46% of North Carolina residents are now at least partially vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to state numbers.

It’s hard to tell exactly what is affecting vaccination rates, but the state is studying rates and considering additional incentive programs, he said. “I’d say everything is on the table at this point for consideration of trying to convince people to get vaccinated,” Cooper said.

But he added that individual conversations between friends, families and family doctors is especially significant in boosting vaccinations.

Preventing COVID deaths

What’s more, Cooper said, vaccines have been proven to work.

“People who are getting sick now, people who are dying now largely, are people unvaccinated,” the governor said. “So almost every sickness, almost every hospital admission, almost every person in the ICU with COVID, almost every death can be prevented with a vaccination.”

At the vaccine site, Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners Chairman George Dunlap voiced a special appeal to African American North Carolinians.

“Too few of us are getting the vaccination,” he said. “…Many people in our community will die as a result.”

He urged African Americans to go get the vaccine to “help curb” the virus.

Becerra and Adams also stopped at the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy Wednesday morning, where they hosted a health care roundtable with representatives from the NC Navigator Consortium and other community health partners.

Adams and Becerra urged vaccinations at that event too, along with encouraging North Carolinians to use sign up for health care plans through HealthCare.gov open enrollment, extended to Aug. 15.