Press conference July 29: Cooper calls on private sector to insist that employees get vaccinated.
July 29. By Dave Yochum. With the NC Dept. of Health & Human Services today reporting 3,268 new COVID-19 cases statewide—more than double the number of new cases reported on Monday—NC Gov. Roy Cooper is requiring that state employees to be vaccinated.
At a 3 pm press conference today he also called on private employers to require vaccines to slow the spread of the Delta variant, but he stopped short of extending the state mask mandate which ends Friday.
NCDHHS Secretary Cohen: Numbers, trends sharply in wrong direction
Cooper “strongly recommended” that businesses ask employees to show proof of vaccination or conduct regular COVID-19 tests and urge employees to wear masks.
Cooper called on all K-12 students and teachers to wear masks even though the mask mandate expires Friday.
To read Executive Order 224, click here.
As the Delta variant digs in, the statewide positive test rate has climbed well past the 5 percent target. It was 9.3 percent today, down from more than 10 percent Tuesday and Wednesday. Nearly every single new cases is the Delta variant.
To date, North Carolina has administered over 9.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 57 percent of the adult population fully vaccinated. Sixty percent of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, including 86 percent of North Carolinians 65 and over.
In spite of that, hospitalizations rose by 50 today, to 1,141 statewide and the NCDHHS today also reported 12 new deaths attributable to the coronavirus.
NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said this is an “outbreak of the unvaccinated.”
Mecklenburg County data
In Mecklenburg County, there were 406 new coronavirus cases, but no new COVID-related deaths.
North Mecklenburg (change from Wednesday to today)
Cornelius: 10 new cases, 3,001 cumulative; 26 deaths total.
Davidson: 6 new cases, 1,772 cumulative; 15 deaths total.
Huntersville: 29 new cases 6,340 cumulative; 54 deaths total.
I you’re unvaccinated…
The NCDHHS updated guidance reminds unvaccinated people that they need to continue practicing the three Ws – wear a mask in all indoor public settings, wait six feet apart in all public settings and wash hands often. In addition, unvaccinated people should not gather with other unvaccinated people who do not live with them. If they do, they should stay outside and keep 6 feet of distance. In addition, unvaccinated people should not travel.
