CDC Head Urges Mask Use, Bar Closures During Charlotte Visit

CHARLOTTE, NC — Bars and businesses "that have a tendency to facilitate irresponsible behavior" should be closed as part of efforts to slow the spread of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the head of the Centers for Disease Control said during a visit to Charlotte Monday.

"I'm a strong advocate for closing bars and I remain to be an advocate of limiting the restaurants," to ensure adequate social distancing, Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield said during a news conference alongside Mecklenburg County public health officials.

Redfield's comments come as Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio said a ban for alcohol sales after 10 p.m. is under consideration.

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Redfield said he was in Charlotte "to listen and to learn from the front lines" in the county, and praised efforts by public health officials throughout the state for promoting face coverings.

"You can't emphasize it too much, that actually face coverings work. It's our major defense to prevent ourselves from getting this infection," he said. "If all of us would put on a face covering now for the next four weeks to six weeks, I think we could drive this epidemic to the ground in our country."

Community spread of COVID-19 in Florida, Texas, Arizona, South Carolina and California have made them "high-concern areas," Redfield said.

The CDC is also closely monitoring North Carolina, however the state has made a "marked improvement," in the past six weeks, he said.

One area of heightened concern for Mecklenburg County officials is the growing lag time in receiving coronavirus test results due to growing shortages in reagents needed to process tests. The turn around time has recently slowed to five to 10 days for results to be returned to patients, according to Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris.

The delay in results is having a negative impact on contact tracing, she said. "It's not actionable data," she said.

Videos emerged on social media over the weekend showed large crowds of restaurant patrons in Charlotte not wearing masks or socially distancing. North Carolina remains under Phase 2 executive orders, which mandates that bars remain closed but restaurants may operate at a maximum of 50 percent capacity.

While county health officials are unable to pin recent cases to restaurant operations and crowds, those actions are undoubtedly having impact, Harris said. "As infectious as we know this virus is, if you look at some of what you're seeing on social media with the lack of social distancing and definitely the lack of masking and those types of environments, we know that is likely one place where it is being transmitted," she said.