CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It is a moment many in Mecklenburg County are waiting for, but with COVID-19 positivity rates fluctuating, when will we ever be able to ditch the masks?
With the majority of the population now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine and an apparent lull in viral activity in the Carolinas, many were anticipating it could happen this week.
Earlier this month, county commissioners made the decision to lower the threshold for lifting the County's mask mandate. In that decision, board members voted that once the positivity rate fell below 5% for seven consecutive days, the mandate would be lifted.
That rule goes into effect 10 days after the vote, which the County Clerk says is Tuesday, Nove. 16. But for at least the last week, it has been above 5%.
New data just released by the county shows as of Nov. 13, the seven-day COVID-19 percent positivity rate was 5.8%. It was close on Nov. 7 at 5.1% but since then it has only gone up.
“Because there’s anticipation of the masking mandate going away I think store management and other people are not quite as vigorously enforcing the importance of masking and I think that may have caused the rates to go up a little bit," Dr. Charles Bregier with Novant Health said.
Bregier, the Medical Director of Novant Health Corporate Health and Employee Occupational Health, said even when the mandate is lifted, masks shouldn't be tossed in the trash.
“We’ve learned through this that masking is very effective. I’m not going to wear a mask at home around my family members who are fully vaccinated, but when I’m in a grocery store or some other public venue, I’m going to continue to mask because I want to keep people safe," he said. "Making the mandate go away doesn’t change the fact that we know its smart to mask whenever we can reasonably.”
On Nov. 15, the county released the following information as clarification on the COVID-19 Face Covering Health Rule:
- The original health rule (effective Aug. 31, 2021) stated that the COVID-19 positivity rate had to be under 5% for four consecutive weeks before the mask mandate would be lifted.
- Earlier this month, County Commissioners agreed to lower the four consecutive week threshold to seven consecutive days. This change aligns with time frames from CDC recommendations and recent NC DHHS guidance to K-12 schools.
- The revised public health rule goes into effect 10 days after being published, on Nov. 16.
- Once the revised public health rule goes into effect on Nov. 16, days prior to Nov. 16 with a positivity rate below 5% will be considered in the seven consecutive day requirement.
More information can be found here.