URGING CAUTION
We are nurses, doctors, and health workers caring for North Carolinians of all backgrounds, including over 23,000 who’ve tested positive for COVID-19. We’re deeply concerned about the Phase Two reopening. While the percentage of positive tests is fairly stable, both the absolute number of cases and hospitalizations over the last seven days continue to rise.
These worrisome figures foreshadow impending burdens to hospital services, including ERs and ICUs, without even capturing the full impact of Phase One given the lag between viral transmission and symptom onset.
Instead of prioritizing economics over public health, we urge Gov. Roy Cooper and the legislature to support N.C. residents in staying safely at home while ramping up contact tracing and testing. Concurrently, our leaders should expand Medicaid, support small businesses, and improve access to unemployment benefits.
Our state should act in solidarity with its residents so that they can protect their lives as well as their livelihoods.
Dr. Conny Morrison, Chapel Hill
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