CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On Friday, the mask mandate in North Carolina will change to indoors only, and Gov. Roy cooper indicates that the indoor portion of the restriction will finally fall away once two-thirds of the state's adults have at least one dose of vaccine.
At last check, 49% of North Carolina adults are at least partially vaccinated, which means the state is just under three-quarters of the way to that two-thirds goal.
But how long could it take to get that last quarter done?
Gibbie Harris, Mecklenburg County's Public Health Director, thinks it won't be for several more weeks.
"I don't know that we're going to meet a June 1 deadline for getting to two-thirds of our population. I'd like to think that we could. I'm not sure that we will," Harris said. "I think it'll be later in the summer."
According to North Carolina's Dept. of Health and Human Services data, nearly 4.1 million North Carolinians have already been at least partially vaccinated and based on the U.S. Census Bureau numbers, the state's adult population totals roughly 8.4 million.
That means 5.6 million adults need to get at least one dose of vaccine to hit the state's two-thirds vaccination goal.
While weekly vaccination data shows a more aggressive rollout, in the beginning, first doses given in North Carolina have recently been waning.
"We've seen a shift in the numbers of people coming to get vaccinated," Harris said.
Last week, vaccine providers in the Tar Heel state administered just under 90,000 first doses, which means, sustaining that rate (and not dipping in demand further), it could be in mid to late August that North Carolina hits its goal line.
Cooper had noted the June 1 timeline to remove social distancing, mass gathering and capacity restrictions do not depend on hitting any vaccination goal. So, it is likely the state would see that happen on time, barring any spikes in the COVID-19 metrics.
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Have a relative or friend in another state and want to know when they can get vaccinated? Visit NBC News' Plan Your Vaccine site to find out about each state's vaccine rollout plan.