Fayetteville, NC – Cumberland County has entered the “red zone” for the spread of the coronavirus, prompting county officials to call on Wednesday asking people to reconsider the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
“We know you are tired of the pandemic and want everything to go back to normal,” Charles Evans, chairman of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners, said at a news conference. “But this is not a normal holiday season. We must continue to take measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
North Carolina set up a three-pronged alert system last month to show where the pandemic was worst. The system combines the number of new infections, the percentage of positive virus tests and the tension felt by local hospitals to determine the level for each province: red for critical viral spread, orange for significant spread, and yellow for significant spread.
Sixty-five of the 100 counties, including Cumberland County, were considered red zones when state officials updated the map Tuesday. The county has reported 660 infections per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks and a positive rate of 13.1 percent on tests during that time.
COVID-19 County Warning System
Cumberland County had been an “orange zone” in previous updates.
The county health director, Dr. Jennifer Green, said more than 1,200 tests came back positive in the past seven days, surpassing the county’s capacity to do contact tracking.
Cape Fear Valley Medical Center has the capacity in the emergency department to manage the influx of patients patients – the hospital recently set up tents in the parking lot for extra capacity – but that could change soon, she said.
Green encouraged local churches to cut back on Christmas and other religious services this year.
“We need people to do their holiday services virtually this year – your New Year’s Eve, your Watchnight services – do them virtually. Especially for high-risk people, we need you to stay home. We need our faith leaders to make it happen. take the lead in this, ”she said.
Health department staffers got their first vaccination shots against the coronavirus on Wednesday so they can enter the community and vaccinate others.
Green, who is Black, said she was vaccinated to encourage members of the minority community to do the same.
“We know that our African American community has been hit hardest during this pandemic. It is critical that we come out and get vaccinated,” she said.