What you need to know about COVID-19 in NC’s Wake, Durham and Orange counties

Overview

• In an attempt to slow the coronavrius spread, Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order banning restaurants from serving alcohol after 11 p.m. beginning July 31.

• Cooper’s executive order and “safer-at-home” guidelines were extended again until Sept. 11 as K-12 and universities begin to transition to a new school year.

• Cooper adds statewide rule requiring masks or face coverings in public.

• Details on the reopening of North Carolina schools were announced Tuesday July 14.

Social distancing

• Cooper’s executive order and “safer-at-home” guidelines were extended again until Sept. 11 as K-12 and universities begin to transition to a new school year.
  
  

• Benchmarks are being used to determine when restrictions may be eased.

• Cooper signs law that will make wearing masks legal indefinitely, reversing a law from the 1950s.

• Durham County amended limits on mass gatherings to align with Gov. Cooper’s orders. It will also require businesses to post signs telling patrons to wear masks.

Business and facilities

• Businesses, restaurants allowed to open. Capacity is limited to 50 percent.
• Chapel Hill is closing parts of Franklin Street to allow more room for socially distant walking and outdoor dining
• After bowling alley owners won a lawsuit allowing them to open, the N.C. Supreme Court ruled them closed again
• Gym owners are citing loopholes to defend their reopening despite Cooper’s restrictions

Events

• Phase Two limits mass gatherings to 10 indoors and 25 outdoors; churches exempt.
  
  
• Cary canceled summer camps through August 31 in addition to the town’s annual Lazy Daze Festival scheduled for Aug. 22-23.
• NC issues new interim guidance on overnight summer camps.
• The N.C. State Parks system has seen overcrowding at parks with people looking to escape their houses

Healthcare status

• Hospitalizations for COVID-19 remain at record levels statewide

• While hospitalizations in North Carolina increase, there is some good news for those who are more seriously ill.

• Triangle-area hospitals get back to normal, worry about blood supply

Schools

• Wake County will start new year with virtual classrooms

• Durham County changes plans, will go with virtual learning. So, too, will Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools and Orange County

• Colleges and universities, including Duke and N.C. Central, are planning for students and faculty to return to campus. N.C. State and UNC started in-person classes.

How to help

• Triangle-area organizations focused on coronavirus aid.
  
  

How to get help

• How to get assistance from Triangle-area organizations for coronavirus-related personal challenges.

• Families in need of food assistance can locate drive-thru or pick-up meal sites through No Kid Hungry North Carolina or by texting FOODNC to 877-877.

Public Transport

• Triangle-area public transit systems have reduced routes, fares.
  
  
• Update: GoRaleigh routes are back to normal weekday schedule.
  
  
• Update: GoDurham has added back some services.
  
  
• Update: GoTriangle is on a Saturday schedule (Sunday schedule on weekends).
• Update: GoCary is on a Saturday schedule with early, late buses.
  
  
• Chapel Hill Transit is running limited routes Monday through Friday

Updated: Aug. 11, 2020

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 6:25 PM with the headline "What you need to know about COVID-19 in NC’s Wake, Durham and Orange counties."