County Health Officials Worry Spring Break Could Undo COVID Gains

CHARLOTTE, NC — Mecklenburg County's COVID-19 metrics are stabilizing, but that could possibly change with the effect of spring break travel, the county's top public health official warned Thursday.

"Spring break is upon us," Mecklenburg County public health director Gibbie Harris said during a news conference Thursday. "We know that that is going to have some potential impact if it's consistent with what we saw over the holidays, so we're a bit concerned about that."

Citing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Harris recommended that anyone who travels over spring break should get a COVID-19 test beforehand, research travel restrictions for the area where you're traveling to, and quarantine for at least a week upon return.

In the past week, Mecklenburg County's COVID-19 case count rose by 1,242 cases, increasing the number of known cases in the county to nearly 100,000, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services data. As of March 18, about 4.4 percent of tests in the county were positive.

It's a low level of community spread that hasn't been seen in the county since last July, Harris said.

Continued progress, however, hinges on numerous factors, such as the potential effects of new virus variants, the community's continued use of masks outside their homes and vaccinations, she said.

"The number of people we have vaccinated will definitely make a difference as we move forward," Harris said. "It will take some time, but we're hoping as more vaccines become available, more people will take advantage of that."

As of Thursday, almost 15 percent of adults in Mecklenburg County were vaccinated.

"That is a number that we need to pay attention to," she said. "We've got a long way to go to have enough people vaccinated to make individuals feel comfortable to go out in public."

About 70 to 85 percent of the community would need to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity, Harris said.

"I don't know that we'll ever have a cut point in time where we say 'it's over,' but I think there will come a time when we are much more comfortable than we are, and maybe moving into a maintenance phase around this virus," she said.

As of Tuesday, more than 56,000 doses of COVID vaccine had been administered in the county, including about 36,000 first doses, Mecklenburg County Medical Director Dr. Meg Sullivan said.

SEE ALSO: Mecklenburg Set To Deliver COVID Vaccines To Homebound Residents

The county has received more than 300 requests for home bound vaccinations, Sullivan said. The news comes one week after public health officials announced that county residents who find getting to a vaccination site challenging can now ask to have the shot brought to them. Those who meet eligibility requirements for the program will receive a Johnson & Johnson vaccine as supply becomes available, likely by early to mid-April.

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