Durham orders face masks indoors to fight ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated,’ says mayor

Durham city and county leaders renewed pleas for people to get vaccinated, as a new, local state of emergency starting at 5 pm Monday requires Durham County residents over age 5 to mask up indoors.

COVID-19 has become “a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Mayor Steve Schewel said at a news conference outside City Hall. More than 90% of current cases are among those who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus, he said.

The delta variant is fueling the current surge. A month ago, the Duke health system had under five current COVID-19 cases, Schewel said. A week ago it was up to 56.

“It is much easier to catch the delta variant, and it’s much worse for you when you do get it,” Schewel said.

“If you are unvaccinated, the chances are good that the virus will find you,” he added.

The indoor mandate is common sense, and businesses and many community members are already doing it, the mayor said. He shopped at Food Lion this weekend and visited Cocoa Cinnamon and The Regulator Bookshop, he said, and people were either wearing masks or a sign on the door asked them to.

Brenda Howerton, the chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, said people need to take precautions, like she did at a conference last week.

“If you get on an elevator and people don’t have a mask, get off, because that’s exactly what I did,” she said.

“This is serious,” she continued. “If you don’t think of it as being serious for you, think about your family.”

Rising COVID cases, hospitalizations

Durham’s state of emergency, first announced Sunday, comes as North Carolina sees a rising number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and tests returning positive.

Several other cities and towns across North Carolina have declared states of emergency and imposed similar requirements.

In the town of Boone in Watauga County, a state of emergency that takes effect Tuesday evening requires everyone age 2 and older to wear masks, The Charlotte Observer reported.

Winston-Salem is under a state of emergency that requires masks in all city government buildings.

Though they didn’t declare a state of emergency, masks are also required in all Wake County and Raleigh city-owned buildings, regardless of vaccination status, The News & Observer reported.

And on Sunday, Raleigh City Council Member Jonathan Melton said in a tweet that he has tested positive for the virus despite being vaccinated. He did not say if he has been wearing a mask.

In Orange County, masks are required of visitors and employees in public buildings. Chapel Hill never lifted its requirement that employees and the general public wear masks inside public buildings, The N&O reported.

These measures follow warnings from health experts that the more contagious strain of the virus is spreading rapidly throughout the state.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have advised everyone who is unvaccinated to wear masks indoors. For those who are vaccinated, the CDC recommends masks in areas of substantial or high transmission.

As of Friday, that included nearly every county in the state, according to CDC data.

Mask mandate ‘common sense’

In Durham, there have been 671 new cases of the virus over the past 14 days. The county has seen a total of 241 deaths from the virus.

As of Wednesday, 5.1% of tests in Durham were returning positive. That’s slightly higher than the state’s 5% target, but still lower than North Carolina as a whole, which has saw a daily positive rate of 10.6% on Friday.

In the county, 61% of the population is at least partially vaccinated against the virus, while 57% are fully vaccinated.

In an email response to a question from the News & Observer after his news conference, Schewel said there wasn’t one single metric, but “rather a combination of numbers” that led to the new mask rules.

“That included the climbing number of hospitalizations,” he wrote. “In addition, the positive [test] rate is much higher for the rest of N.C., and we have thousands and thousands of people from outside of Durham driving here for work every morning — including from counties with much lower vaccination rates and higher positivity rates. All of that combined to drive the decision.”

At the news conference, Schewel said he contacted the manager at The Streets at Southpoint mall on Friday, ahead of the new mask requirement.

“They’re totally ready,” he said. “This is something that is common sense. It’s being done across the country, and it needs to be done in our community.”

Schewel said local government leaders are also considering additional future steps, like requiring vaccines for public employees and mandatory testing for those who do not get vaccinated. Last week, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools approved those measures for its employees.

The state of emergency takes effect at 5 p.m. Monday. Here’s a brief look at where you need to wear a mask in Durham County, and who is exempt from the mandate:

• Face coverings must be worn in any indoor public place, business or establishment.
• Exemptions are in place for those with medical and behavioral conditions or disabilities, including those that cause difficulties breathing or putting on a mask without assistance.
• Children under 5 years old do not need to wear face coverings.

For more information, see the full details on the new mandate here: bit.ly/3Apb8fs.

Durham County vaccine clinics

Friday, August 13:

• When: Friday, August 13, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Where: 2000 Avondale Drive
• Vaccines offered: Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson; first doses
• How to be vaccinated: Appointments & walk-ins. Open to all people 12 and older. To schedule an appointment, call 919-560-9217.

Saturday, August 14:

• When: Saturday, August 14, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Where: 2722 E. Main St.
• Vaccines offered: Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson; first doses
• How to be vaccinated: Appointments & walk-ins. Open to all people 12 and older. To schedule an appointment, call 919-560-9217.

• When: Saturday, August 14, noon to 4 p.m.
• Where: Eastway Elementary School. 610 N. Alston Ave.
• Vaccines offered: Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson; first and second doses
• How to be vaccinated: Appointments and walk-ins. Open to all people 12 and older. To schedule an appointment, call 919-560-9217.

For other upcoming vaccination events or to request one at your business or organization, visit dcopublichealth.org/vaccineevents.

The Durham County Department of Public Health continues to provide vaccinations in its regular clinic at 414 E. Main St. Appointments and walk-in vaccinations are available Mondays and Wednesdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Tuesdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This story was originally published August 8, 2021 at 11:34 AM.