N E WS
North Carolina A storefront in Chapel Hill where masks are required PHOTO BY ELIZABETH THOMPSON
a 5 percent increase in the last 14 days, according to the World Health Organization Epi Database. This is a cause for caution in the United States, which tends to lag a couple of weeks behind Europe’s COVID trends. North Carolina DHHS secretary Kody Kinsley said North Carolina tends to be six weeks behind COVID trends in Europe, during a press conference on March 17. Though cases are rising in some European countries, in the past month, travel restrictions have started to ease throughout most European nations. The United Kingdom, France, Greece, Romania, and other nations have begun lifting requirements for entry such as passenger locator forms, COVID-19 entry restrictions, and proof of vaccination. However, most countries in the European Union enforce policies regarding the use of face masks while indoors or using public transit.
Loosen up?
The Next Wave COVID cases are down across the state, but a new variant currently spreading in Europe looms. BY ELIZABETH THOMPSON AND MONA DOUGANI backtalk@indyweek.com
N
orth Carolinians are currently faced with choices and confusion about which personal protective measures they should take against COVID-19, as Gov. Roy Cooper released guidance encouraging schools to make masks optional starting March 7 and the state’s remaining counties with mask mandates ended them. These changes follow a drop in cases across the state, as the Omicron surge appears to be on its way down, but they have left North Carolinians with questions: To mask or not to mask? Stock up on COVID tests? Is COVID over? Experts are even unsure, as the pandemic enters yet another new phase. North Carolina saw a sharp decrease in COVID cases following the surge of the highly transmissible Omicron variant across the world in December and January. At the height of the Omicron surge, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported almost 45,000 COVID cases, dwarfing pre10
March 30, 2022
INDYweek.com
vious surges. That number is now down to fewer than 2,000 daily cases. Some public health experts—such as Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s top adviser on the pandemic—predict an “uptick” of COVID cases as a result of the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron variant, which is causing an increase in cases in Europe. U.S. surgeon general Vivek Murthy urged Americans to remain prepared for whatever COVID has in store, in an interview on Fox News Sunday. “We’re in that mile 18 of a marathon,” Murthy said. “We can’t quit, because COVID’s not quitting.”
COVID increase in Europe As of March 21, the collective number of COVID-19 cases in all of Europe has risen to 194.4 million, roughly
While cases are low, John Wiesman, professor of the practice in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, said North Carolinians should enjoy this time. “We are at a place where community transmission is much lower,” Wiesman said. “And we do have this pentup demand to want to do things we haven’t been doing, whether it’s going to the movie theater, whether it’s doing some traveling, whether it’s seeing people in our family who we haven’t seen for a long time.” That doesn’t mean COVID is over though, Wiesman said. Thomas Holland, associate professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, hearkened back to the first COVID curveball, the Delta variant. “Last summer when we had really low case counts,” Holland said, “and around June, July time, I felt pretty confident that we wouldn’t see another big surge until the winter— sort of traditional respiratory virus season, and that was wrong, right? Delta arrived around that time, and then we had a big surge even during the warm summer months.” Even as North Carolinians enjoy this time, Wiesman said, they shouldn’t let their guard down. “I think the keyword here is we just need to remain vigilant,” Wiesman said.
Remaining vigilant Wiesman recommended consulting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention community-level transmission data to assess your risk. Wastewater data is also one way to detect COVID transmission early, Wiesman
