WADESBORO — The Anson County Health Department released recommendations on whether people should be wearing masks after the department received several inquiries surrounding the new state restrictions and Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.

The Health Department suggests for residents to keep following current CDC guidelines, as well as Governor Cooper’s Executive Order.

“In summary, if you are not vaccinated, you need to continue to wear a face covering and practice social distancing when you are in a public setting,” Health Department Director Fred Thompson said in a press release. “If you are fully vaccinated, in most settings you do not need to wear a mask.”

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) states everyone is required to wear face coverings, regardless of vaccination status, in the following indoor settings:

• Health care settings including hospitals, nursing homes and other non-hospital health care settings as defined by the CDC

• Planes, buses, trains and other forms of public transportation

• Correction facilities and homeless shelters

• Settings that primarily serve children (child care, schools, camps)

As of June 8, 40% of the state is fully vaccinated, according to the NCDHHS website.

“We had fewer than 70 new cases of the coronavirus in May, a dramatic reduction of over 85% from the over 500 new cases we had in January,” Thompson said. “Ansonians have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 7,300 are fully vaccinated.”

The NCDHHS says about 31% of Ansonians are fully vaccinated.

“Lets continue to pull together as a community, get vaccinated and drive our coronavirus case count to zero,” Thompson said.

The health department continues to offer the Moderna vaccine at a drive-thru clinic on Tuesdays at the EMS base. Due to the recent cyber attack, registration is only available at the health department or by calling 704-690-6757.

Reach Liz O’Connell at 704-994-5471 or at eoconnell@ansonrecord.com.