With COVID-19 cases in Wake County surging nearly 1,000% since June 1, Wake County and local municipal leaders joined together Friday morning to discuss calling for a county-wide mask mandate. It would require everyone, vaccinated or not, to wear a face-covering while inside businesses or other public spaces.
By statute, any mandatory mask order by Wake County would apply to just 17% of the county's residents – those who live beyond the boundaries of Wake's towns and cities. Only with the unanimous consent of Wake's mayors would such an order apply to the remaining 83% of Wake's population living within the county's municipal jurisdictions.
County staff are now preparing modifications to the preexisting emergency declaration to include masking and will share them with municipalities to consider, in hopes of having full support and consistent information and enforcement across the county.
"As leaders of the community, we need to make sure that we're putting the community first in all the decisions we make,” said Wake County Board of Commissioners Chair Matt Calabria. “Wearing a mask isn’t fun, but right now, it’s necessary. We’ve heard from health experts, and we’ve heard from businesses owners and residents who have asked for this mandate. They want to be safe when they leave home, and we want Wake County to be able to maintain essential community services and activities.”
Chair Calabria convened the meeting of mayors from the City of Raleigh and each of the towns in Wake County this morning to provide the latest updates from epidemiologists and other public health officials. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wake County is in the red – a designation which indicates high community transmission and directs communities to take measures to stop the spread.
“Delta is 60% more transmissible than the previous variant, and that means it’s more contagious,” said Dr. Nicole Mushonga, Associate Medical Director and Epidemiology Program Director for Wake County. “With the original strain, an infected person had the potential to spread the virus to two people. Now, data show it could infect anywhere from five to six and potentially even 10 people.”
From June 1 to Aug. 9, Wake County has seen 972% increase in COVID-19 cases. Positivity rates are up 81% in the past two weeks. Hospitalizations are up 123% over that same timeframe, and only expected to increase in coming weeks.
During the meeting, Dr. Mushonga highlighted a concerning trend in some of Wake County’s youngest residents: five- to nine-year-old children. She pointed out that this age group saw higher COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks than at any other time in the pandemic, and this is an age group that is not yet eligible for vaccination.
The mask mandate puts Wake County in alignment with CDC guidance, which recommends everyone in areas designated as having “substantial spread” wear a mask in public indoor settings, even those people who are fully vaccinated. Masks have proven effective in stopping viral spread, keeping infection rates down, preventing further mutations and decreasing the number of people dying.
Wake County also wants to encourage everyone to get vaccinated. No cost COVID-19 vaccines are available to anyone 12 and older at more than 200 providers in Wake County by appointment or walk-in. Wake County Public Health has vaccination clinics in all corners of the county offering weekend and evening hours. No ID is required. Anyone can check out the free clinic schedule at WakeGov.com/vaccine.
