Gov. Cooper declaring an emergency is the urgent response needed to contain coronavirus
Gov. Roy Cooper made the right call Tuesday by declaring a state of emergency in North Carolina in order to stem the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Some may complain that the governor is overreacting, stirring fears and slowing the state economy. So be it. Overreacting is a much preferable error to not reacting in time.
Dr. Wesley Burks, CEO of UNC Health Care, told News & Observer editors and reporters on Tuesday, “You have to have a healthy respect for this.” He said the coronavirus has a high transmission rate — every infected person is likely to infect three others — and noted that Italy went from 20 confirmed infections to 9,000 in two weeks. He compared the vulnerability of the U.S. to this virus to having the regular influenza virus hit a poor country in which no one has received a flu shot.
Once the virus spreads, some containment measures will be pointless, Burks said. Government leaders, he said, need “to do now what they can’t do two weeks from now.”
Indeed the governor may soon need to do even more. For now, he is not calling for schools to close or urging the Atlantic Coast Conference to call off its men’s basketball tournament in Greensboro. But Dr. Mandy Cohen, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is discouraging large gatherings, especially of older people who are more vulnerable to serious effects of an infection from the virus.. “This is a critical moment,” she said.
The spread of the virus is alarming, both for its impact on the health of people and the health of the economy, but there is comfort to be taken from the rapid response of state health officials and leaders of the medical community. That response stands in contrast to President Trump’s early attempts to downplay the threat in order to minimize damage to the economy and his re-election prospects.
It’s also encouraging that children appear to be largely unaffected by the virus, which may allow schools to stay open, and doctors say most adults who are infected will experience symptoms similar to having a cold or the flu. But with the rate of infection potentially so high and no vaccine available, this coronavirus could claim many lives.
This is an emergency in which it matters what people do and don’t do. Do pay attention to government and credible news sources and be skeptical about unsupported claims moving on social media. Don’t shake hands, but do wash yours, and often. Be careful about exposing the elderly to the virus, especially in nursing homes, but do make sure elderly relatives and friends have resources at home if they need stay there. Avoid mass travel and mass gatherings, if you are in an at-risk group.
This virus will pass in time, and, with the right measures, its effects may be limited. But whatever its passing pattern, it has laid bare the foolishness of thinking that the U.S. can wall off itself from the world and ignore those within the nation who lack access to health care.
Access to health care is particularly relevant to North Carolina, one of 14 states that continues to refuse to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. To his credit, Gov. Cooper identified this as an urgent situation long before Covid-19 arrived. He has refused to sign a state budget that does not include expansion.
Perhaps now Republicans who control the General Assembly will see not only the callousness to others but the risk to themselves that comes with denying access to health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income people. That is an emergency that doesn’t need a vaccine. It only needs a vote.
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 5:02 PM.