'Parks were packed.' Charlotte crowds collide with stay-at-home order, health director warns [View all]
Mecklenburg County Health Director Gibbie Harris slammed the lack of social distancing in Charlotte’s parks this weekend, as county officials announced the first local death from COVID-19 likely arose from “community spread” of the disease.
Greater restrictions may be needed to enforce distance rules in outdoor spaces, Harris said Sunday during a news conference. Few details were released about the person who died. Harris said the number of cases and deaths can be reduced if residents follow stay-at-home orders and stay six feet or more away from other people.
“Yesterday, our parks were packed with people. Social distancing was not even an option,” Harris said at Sunday’s press conference. “These are presenting situations where we will see individuals exposed in ways that are against our stay-at-home order.”
Under Mecklenburg’s stay-at-home order, residents are “allowed to go out and exercise, but we have emphasized that people need to be six feet apart. Social-distancing is critical in this situation, and the parks — there were way more people than — you couldn’t social-distance even if you wanted to,” Harris said.
Read more: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article241602261.html
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