Mecklenburg County implements a stay at home policy

Mecklenburg County residents have been ordered to stay at home as the world faces the growing coronavirus outbreak.

"On March 14 we identified our third case. In a matter of 10 days the total number of cases has increased significantly," said Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio.

"Based on predictive modeling, if the current state continues, we could see the number of cases double every four days in the state of North Carolina."

The stay at home proclamation was executed by the Mecklenburg County emergency management together with public health, the county, the city, and the towns of Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Matthews, Mint Hill and Pineville.

Diorio announced the proclamation will start at 8 AM on Thursday, March 26, and end by April 16. The order may be extended, amended, or rescinded.

Based on the proclamation, residents Mecklenburg County can still:

Shop at grocery stores
Visit pharmacies
Shop at hardware stores
Visit medical services and doctors, but only if telehealth is not available
Visit restaurant drive-thru and take-out
Care for others
Exercise, such as visiting a greenway, park, or walking the dog so long as 6 feet of separation is maintained
Shop for necessary supplies
Receive home deliverers

However, residents may not:

Go to work, except for those residents who maintain essential jobs
Attend social gatherings

"The CMPD encourages continued voluntary cooperation from the community but they department does have the authority to issued citations and/or make misdemeanor arrests if all efforts for voluntary cooperation cannot be attained," says the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Meanwhile, Mecklenburg County Health Director Gibbie Harris explained there are only a few zip codes in the county without confirmed coronavirus cases.

"One is right smack in the middle of town where we don’t have a lot of residents to begin with and the other is in the far north, which I think may be more lake than anything else," Harris said.

When asked how the COVID-19 virus spreads, Harris responded, "What I’ll say about this virus is there’s lots of things we don’t know at this point. We’re learning as we go. There’ve been lots of questions that we get asked and are answered and then as more research is done those answers have to change."

"The virus is spread by droplets at this point. At one point there was concern about aerosolized spread. We’re dealing with droplets at this point. So if someone coughs, sneezes on you or on a surface, and individuals come in contact with those droplets, that’s how it’s spread."