More COVID Restrictions Could Ease In NC Next Week: Gov. Cooper

NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina's coronavirus restrictions could possibly ease next week, Gov. Roy Cooper said Wednesday afternoon.

The announcement comes less than one month after Cooper rolled back a statewide modified stay-at-home order and allowed more capacity at gyms, restaurants and sports arenas, while keeping in place a statewide mask mandate. That executive order is set to expire March 26.

"We are hopeful that we can ease restrictions even further in the next executive order," Cooper said, pointing to "low and stable" numbers of new COVID-19 cases in the state.

State public health officials reported 1,999 new COVID-19 cases in the state Wednesday, as about 5.6 percent of coronavirus tests in the state were positive.

"While our trends look good, we're still keeping a watchful and concerned eye on the more contagious COVID-19 variants we are seeing increasing in our state," he said.

Vaccines will also factor into the decision about possibly easing restrictions, he said.

"As more people get vaccinated, that does figure into what we're doing," Cooper said.

As of Wednesday, 3.4 million doses of COVID vaccine had been administered in North Carolina, with nearly 26 percent of adults in the state receiving at least one dose and 16.5 percent fully vaccinated, Cooper said.

The state's vaccination supply has steadily increased in recent weeks, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen said.

North Carolina is currently receiving about 240,000 doses of vaccine a week, up from about 120,000 doses a week in late January. That supply is also in addition to doses provided directly by the federal government to retail pharmacy partners and FEMA, she said.

When the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine supply picks up in April, the state is expected to ramp up to about 350,000 doses a week, she said.

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