Charlotte mayor considers ban on late-night alcohol sales to limit COVID-19 spread

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said Monday she would support banning alcohol sales after 10 p.m. to help limit the spread of the coronavirus, after images of crowded gatherings at local restaurants and bars circulated on social media.

Lyles made the announcement during Monday night’s City Council meeting hours after Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio told reporters that policymakers were discussing the action.

“If the policy group recommends that, I would be willing to sign that order,” Lyles told City Council members. “We would likely have some of the other towns join us, but not all.”

Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he is a “strong advocate” of closing bars. He spoke during a rare visit to Charlotte on Monday.

Support for the city’s emergency proclamation would be similar to tighter mask mandates that only Charlotte, Matthews and Mecklenburg approved last week, Lyles said.

The Charlotte area’s potential restrictions on alcohol would reflect limits already in place in Orange County and South Carolina to promote social distancing and health guidelines.

“We’re not ready to make a recommendation, but we’ll continue to talk about it over the next couple of days,” Diorio told reporters earlier Monday.

There is no “formal discussion” underway about another shutdown similar to the county stay-at-home order that expired in late April, Diorio added, but she said Mecklenburg’s municipalities may enact tougher rules if they choose.

“The way to really combat this virus is to wear a face covering, wash your hands and practice social distancing,” Diorio said. “If we could get that right, we wouldn’t really need to be talking about the potential of another shutdown.”

‘Irresponsible behavior’

Diorio and Public Health Director Gibbie Harris briefed reporters Monday afternoon after meeting with Redfield. He endorsed ending late-night alcohol sales, telling reporters that “it’s critical that we recognize certain businesses that tend to facilitate irresponsible behavior,” Redfield said.

Redfield said he came to Mecklenburg County to discuss the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on the Hispanic community. More than one-third of Mecklenburg’s cases are among Hispanic residents, according to the latest county data.

Mecklenburg gained 295 new coronavirus cases on Monday, state health officials said, after it had recorded 400 or more cases three days in a row for a total of more than 15,000 cases since mid-March. As of Monday afternoon, 168 people have died, county officials said.

While it’s difficult to trace where COVID-19 patients were infected, Harris said social media images show that crowded restaurants and bars “are one place where it is definitely transmitted.” Bars are closed under North Carolina’s shutdown but are classified as restaurants if food sales account for 30% or more of their revenue.

Reopening schools

Harris and Redfield also voiced support for reopening schools this fall if it can be done safely. Gov. Roy Cooper has said he will announce a schools reopening plan, along with details about Phase Three of the state’s gradual reopening from its shutdown, this week.

“If everyone is wearing a mask, then we have a greater opportunity to protect everyone in our community, whether in school or not,” Harris said. “Getting kids back in school has to be a priority.”

Redfield added that “it’s a greater threat for K-12 (students) not to be in face-to-face schooling.” Outside school, the career virologist said, children miss access to mental health counseling, free lunches, help for child abuse and socialization. Few children have died of the virus, he added.

While it’s important to protect others who may be more vulnerable to COVID-19, such as teachers with health conditions, “in general my analysis of this is way in favor of reopening these schools face-to-face so these kids can get the education they deserve,” Redfield said.

The CDC is under intense pressure from President Trump and his allies who are downplaying coronavirus dangers in hopes of reviving the economy before Election Day, the Washington Post reported. Trump has also slammed the agency for its “very tough” guidelines for reopening of the nation’s schools, which the president demands.

National trends

New cases are rising across the nation, prompting states including Florida, California and Texas to put on hold their plans to reopen. Redfield said North Carolina has shown “marked improvement” since the White House flagged it as a potential hotspot six weeks ago.

“I think the uniqueness that we’re seeing in Florida, Arizona, Texas, South Carolina and California are unique at this moment,” he said. “I think that any of us who try to predict which ways these things go, we don’t know enough about this virus.”

More than 1,500 people in North Carolina have died of COVID-19, the state Department of Health and Human Services says, of the more than 87,000 cases reported. A record 1,093 people were hospitalized on Saturday.

Increased testing doesn’t fully explain Mecklenburg County’s surge in new cases. While 1.8 times more people were tested in June than in May, for example, the number of confirmed cases rose 2.7 times.

Hospitalizations in the county are also increasing, although the percentage of positive tests results — 11.4% according to the most recent data, slightly higher than the state as a whole — represents a “fair stable” trend, county health officials say.

Harris said Mecklenburg officials will monitor the impact of infected people coming from other jurisdictions, noting that South Carolina, where cases have soared, is of particular concern because it’s so close.

About 20% of hospital beds and intensive-care beds are available, enough to care for more COVID-19 patients, Mecklenburg officials said Friday in a joint statement with Atrium Health and Novant Health.

Diorio said Monday local policymakers “feel comfortable” with the hospital systems’ current capacity to care for coronavirus patients. There are no active conversations about erecting a field hospital to accommodate a surge in coronavirus patients, Diorio told reporters.

But health officials have expressed concern about Mecklenburg’s rising numbers. Some county commissioners say a renewed lockdown, like the county stay-at-home order that expired in late April, may be inevitable.

This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Charlotte mayor considers ban on late-night alcohol sales to limit COVID-19 spread."