New ad campaign seeks to convince more in NC to wear masks to slow coronavirus spread

North Carolina is rolling out a new ad, in both English and Spanish, to try to convince more people to wear masks to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“While you can’t know who is carrying the virus, you should know that everyone who is wearing a mask has a reason to fight it,” the ad says.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said her reasons for wearing a mask include protecting her family, and being a good neighbor to others around the state. At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Cohen wore a white mask with the word “respect’ on it and said the virus has disproportionately harmed Black and Hispanic communities, as well as those who are uninsured.

DHHS will continue to “work with communities to bring these messages to the places and people that need this information the most,” Cohen said.

She highlighted the Latinx community, which has experienced 4 out of 10 cases statewide despite making up less than 10% of the population, and the African-American community which represent just over 20% of North Carolina’s population but 30% of the state’s COVID deaths.

“While these trends have been improving, these high levels of illness and mortality are not something that we’re going to accept.”

Staying safe over Labor Day weekend

One fast-approaching hurdle for North Carolina, Cohen said, will be the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

“Public health experts believe Memorial Day weekend last spring likely accelerated community spread in the U.S.,” Cohen said. “But now months have passed and we’ve learned a lot from that experience. We have more and better information about how to protect ourselves.”

She urged people not to take part in some of the big gatherings they might usually have planned for this Labor Day weekend. The recent spate of college reopenings and accompanying spikes in coronavirus cases, she said, showed just how quickly the pandemic can spiral.

“I don’t want to see what happened in other Southern states, where they really surged cases and really maxed out all of their healthcare resources,” Cohen said, urging anyone who does go out for Labor Day festivities to “really be cautious in avoiding crowds and wearing a face mask.”

Preparing for a coronavirus vaccine

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is attempting to decrease barriers to testing, Cohen said, which will help people without health insurance. But she said the state’s Republican-led legislature needs to expand Medicaid in order to better help the uninsured.

Since North Carolina’s first reported COVID-19 case six months ago, the state has reported 172,209 lab-confirmed cases. That total, released by NC DHHS on Thursday, is likely an undercount because tests were rationed early in the pandemic.

The state reported Thursday that 2,803 people have died from COVID-19.

At the national level, Republican President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to announce a potential vaccine for coronavirus right before Election Day later this fall, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Cohen said that in North Carolina, the state government has begun preparing for whenever a vaccine will be available and is planning for which groups would be prioritized and how it would be distributed.

And in the meantime before a vaccine is available, she said, mask-wearing is an important step to slowing the spread of the disease. It’s just common courtesy to take that extra step to protect the people around you, Cohen said.

“It gets back to intent, which I think is really important for us to all recognize that we’re working hard for each other,” she said. “We all have different reasons to wear a mask but at the end of the day we’re all protecting each other.”

NC heads into Phase 2.5 of business reopening

Earlier this summer, Cooper announced a three-phase reopening plan, and on Tuesday he announced what he termed as “Phase 2.5” of the plan. Those new, loosened restrictions on businesses and leisure activities start Friday at 5 p.m. Gyms, skating rinks, playgrounds aquariums and museums can open at limited capacity and with health safety measures in place.

More people will be able to gather indoors and out. The indoor limit will expand to 25 people, and the outdoor limit will increase to 50. The requirement for public mask wearing will extend to children 5 and older.

The legislature on Thursday gave final approval to a bill that that spends the rest of the state’s federal CARES Act money.

This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 2:25 PM.