Orders to Stay At Home and limit occupancy in stores are in effect, as well as bans on large gatherings and closure of certain types of businesses that can’t practice social distancing. And I’m sure I don’t need to remind parents out there that schools are closed.
Because of these measures, and the good work of North Carolinians, our hospitals are not overwhelmed right now. Hospital beds, ICU Beds, and ventilators are available. North Carolina has the capacity to treat the patients who contract the virus.
Our efforts to flatten the curve are working. And that means we have saved lives. The Stay at Home orders are working, but we know our current situation is not sustainable in the long run. I know people are wondering, where do we go from here?
This virus is going to be with us until there is a vaccine, which may be a year or more away. As we ease restrictions, we are going to enter a new normal. We want to get back to work while at the same time preventing that spike that'll overwhelm our hospitals with patients.
Today, I want to tell North Carolinians that in order to ease restrictions we need to make progress in three areas: testing, tracing and trends.
First – testing. Our new normal relies on an increase in testing capabilities to isolate and track new cases. This means having the lab capacity and supplies to do more diagnostic testing as well as reliable antibody testing that can tell us who has had the virus.
Second – tracing. We have to boost our public health workforce to trace and track new cases. When a new case pops up, tracing efforts will identify people who’ve been in contact so they can get tested. @ncdhss will partner with universities & hospitals to get this job done.
And third — trends. To ease restrictions, we have to see COVID-19 trends move in the right direction. This includes trends in the number of new positive cases, hospitalizations, deaths, as well as available supply of personal protective equipment, hospital capacity and more.
We must protect the most vulnerable and high-risk people. Until we have a vaccine or effective treatment, we will still have to decrease exposure risk for older people & those with underlying health conditions and continue strong precautions in congregate living settings.
In our new normal, you may see more people wearing masks or having their temperature checked. A restaurant you go into may have tables that are only partially full. The only sporting events or concerts that you may be able to watch for awhile will have no in-person crowds.
A new normal can get us back to work, back to school and back to play, but in a new way for a while. Experts tell us it'd be dangerous to lift restrictions all at once. We have to monitor for troubling signs of a spike in cases that could overwhelm our hospitals and risk lives.
Getting this right is the most important step. Sending people back to work & school while making sure recovery money is flowing to people and small businesses is essential. So are the public health measures to give each other confidence that we can go back to our lives safely.
To protect our health & long-term economic prosperity, we have to act with care rather than haste. As we adjust, I know that North Carolinians will continue to look out for one another as we work together to recover our economy and beat this virus. And we will beat this virus.
