Statewide curfew starts this Friday as Covid cases climb. Here’s what the order means for you

It’s essentially a curfew, aimed specifically at curbing late-night holiday celebrations at private residences, as well as at bars and restaurants. The order takes effect Friday at 5 p.m.

Here are a few more details:

• Houses of worship are exempt, as are individuals who are experiencing homelessness.
• Grocery stores, pharmacies, and gas stations are all also exempt.
• The order is in effect until January 8.
• The sale of alcohol on site must end at 9 p.m.
• During this period, phase 3 restrictions on businesses remain in place.

A strong warning: The governor’s new executive order sends a strong message that pandemic conditions are very bad. While state officials did not announce any new business restrictions Tuesday, those restrictions will likely come if metrics do not stabilize.

“Let me be clear: We will do more if our trends don’t improve,” Cooper said Tuesday. “That could mean additional actions involving indoor restaurant dining, entertainment facilities or retail capacity. None of us want that.”

[Related Agenda story: FAQ: What to expect at bars, movie theaters, and other businesses in Charlotte as N.C. moves into phase 3]

The order contains a few other exceptions. People can leave home in order to:

• Travel to or from a place of work
• Perform work at their workplace when their presence is required
• Travel for work purposes
• Obtain food, medical care, fuel, or social services
• Travel from a business that closed at or after 10:00 p.m.
• Travel to a business that will open at 5:00 a.m.
• Travel to take care of a family member, friend, or pet in another household
• Travel to or from a religious service
• Travel necessary for personal safety
• Travel into or out of the state

By the numbers: State officials also said the number of counties experiencing “critical community spread” has more than doubled. Now, 48 counties are in the red zone, up from 20 the last time the state updated the map, right before Thanksgiving.

• Mecklenburg County is orange, indicating “substantial community spread.”
• An average of 242 Covid patients were in the hospital over the last two weeks in Mecklenburg County. Countywide, 477 people have died because of the virus.
• North Carolina continues to set records for new cases daily. On December 6, the state confirmed 6,438 positive cases, a 43 percent increase in the last two weeks.
• As of December 8, there are 2,373 Covid-19 patients in the hospital in North Carolina, according to NC DHHS. 5,605 North Carolinians have died, and the daily percent positive rate is 9.7%.

“If you are in a red or orange county, you should limit going out to essential activities. You should avoid people that you don’t live with,” N.C. DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said Tuesday.

Restaurants/bars react: A mandatory early closure and cutoff of alcohol sales present another blow to the already struggling restaurant industry.

At Dot Dot Dot, “it is definitely going to affect us greatly,” owner Stefan Huebner says. Last call will basically be at 8:45. “But in all honesty I thought we were going to close indoor dining so I guess this is a small win. Expect us to open earlier in the day,” Huebner says.

Local restaurateur Bruce Moffett owns Barrington’s, Good Food on Montford, Stagioni, and NC Red. The new order will limit his team’s ability to seat customers, Moffett says. He anticipates they won’t be able to do much seating past 8 p.m.

“Obviously this mandate combined with the cold weather will further restrict our ability to earn money. We just have to take it as it comes,” Moffett says.

Vaccine update: Meanwhile, North Carolina is preparing to receive its first small shipment Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer once the company gets FDA approval. In Charlotte, Atrium Health will be among the first North Carolina hospitals to receive the Pfizer vaccine.

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