Masks now mandatory in N.C.

ANSON COUNTY — North Carolinians must now wear a face covering when in public, whether it’s indoors or outdoors, where social distancing between people who aren’t in the residence isn’t possible. This is due to Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 148, which took effect on Friday, June 26 at 5 p.m. The executive order also pushed back the state’s entry into Phase 3 of the plan to reopen the state’s economy until at least July 17.

Exceptions to the mandate include people with medical conditions, children under 12 years old, people who are at home, and those who are exercising outside while practicing social distancing of at least six feet.

The order states that businesses can be cited for failure to comply and customers who refuse to wear a mask and enter a business anyway can be charged with trespassing. Individuals will not be criminally charged for not wearing a mask, unless they attempt to enter a business that requires a mask.

However, many law enforcement agencies across the state, such as the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department and the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office, have stated they will not cite people or enforce any regulations pertaining to public health.

According to Anson County Health Director Fred Thompson, enforcement of these regulations is up to the private establishment.

“The Food Lion, Walmart, wherever, is not supposed to let you in if you’re not wearing a face-covering,” said Thompson.

At press time, the Wadesboro Police Department, Anson County Sheriff’s Office, Town of Wadesboro, Anson County Manager, nor any member of the Anson County Board of Commissioners made any comment as to how, or even if, they plan on enforcing this mandate when asked.

“A lot of this depends on voluntary compliance,” said Thompson. “There’s simply not enough law enforcement officers to police everybody.”

The prognosis for Anson County if the mandate doesn’t start convincing people to wear a mask in public is quite bleak.

“There are too many people not wearing a face-covering out and about in Anson County. And, absent a vaccine, we’re going to be living with this for a long time,” he said. “The problem is most of the people that have been exposed to the virus don’t know it. They’re young, they’re healthy, and they have excuses like, ‘it’s hot’ or ‘the mask is uncomfortable’ but they’re walking around sharing that virus and exposing people that are at risk, such as the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.”

As for the vaccine Thompson mentioned, “estimates are all over the map as far as when it could be completed. They range from sometime this year, to this time next year. There’s also no guarantee that we’ll have a vaccine for this like we don’t have one for the common cold.”

If the number of positive cases in Anson County continues to rise, the Health Department will be overwhelmed in no time.

“We only have one communicable disease nurse,” said Thompson. “Each new case has to be contacted, quarantined, you have to the contact tracing on their close contacts.”

Help is on the way. The Anson County Health Department is set to receive $147,000 to assist with COVID-19 management. Each county in NC received a base amount of $90,000 and then received additional funding based on criteria such as population size. Part of these funds will be used to hire contact tracers.

These contact tracers work to assist local health departments in contact tracing,” said Thompson. Staff at the Health Department uploads information concerning the patient into a software called CCTO and then the contact tracer picks up the process from there and contacts the patient to find who they have been in contact with and could have potentially infected.

As of Monday, July 29, there were 124 total reported COVID-19 cases. Of these cases, 25 are currently active. At this point, 99 cases have been discharged, 97 cases have returned to baseline health,, and there have been two deaths.