4. North Carolina
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper confirmed on June 24 that the state would pause for three more weeks at its current second phase. “North Carolina is relying on the data and the science to lift restrictions responsibly, and right now our increasing numbers show we need to hit the pause button while we work to stabilize our trends,” Cooper said in a statement.
Cooper and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen, MD, looked at a range of evidence to make their decision — including reported incidents, positivity, hospitalization, and testing and contact tracing capabilities. However, they said in a statement, the figures showed that “the indicators are moving in the wrong direction.”
Cooper also declared in his press statement that face coverings are now mandatory in public places in North Carolina. In mid-June, Angela Rasmussen, PhD, a virologist at Columbia University in New York City, told Best Life that North Carolina was one of four states that “reopened as if coronavirus was completely gone from their communities, which was not the case, and which is why they have returned to upward trajectories indicating increased community transmission.”
