Coronavirus: Questions and a Protest Fired at NC Officials 

North Carolina officials lack information according to North Carolina Lt. Governor, Dan Forest. Forest is not the only one calling for planning and action for the economic health of the state. 

Forest sent a letter today to Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of NC Department of Health & Human Services. 

“Over the past few weeks, our state’s health officials have done an admirable job slowing the spread of coronavirus and “flattening the curve,” ensuring that our hospital systems are able to adequately care for the sick,” Forest wrote in the letter to Cohen. 

He added, “Now, it’s time to start planning how to rebuild. We must repair North Carolina’s economy, which has been seriously damaged by our response to COVID-19. This, too, is a matter of life and death.”

Also today, a grassroots movement comprised of NC residents, going by the name of “ReopenNC”, organized a protest in Raleigh. Some of the members of ReopenNC took to the steps of the Legislative Building to protest Gov. Cooper’s Stay at Home order given on March 27, 2020. 

Small business owner and co-founder of ReopenNC, Ashley Smith, issued a statement today. It said, “All across our great state, from small towns to big cities, you don’t have to look far to see closed businesses and frustrated, concerned citizens. These hard-working North Carolina business owners and their employees have built prosperity and stability for themselves and positively affected their communities in a way that only “small Mom & Pop” businesses can. Their right to work and to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is being infringed upon every single day that Governor Cooper keeps our state shuttered.”

After law enforcement asked the protestors to leave because the gathering was breaking the executive order given by the Governor, Monica Faith Ussery, 51, of Holly Springs, was arrested and taken away in handcuffs. Anyone breaking the executive order may be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor for violation of the executive order.

In a press release, Forest outlines information the officials need. The statement reads, “While elected officials and healthcare leaders across the country discuss a rolling reopening of our economy, North Carolina needs to start the same discussion, but we lack key information. NCDHHS needs to immediately publicize relevant data so that the state can begin planning recovery efforts.

Here are some of the specific questions that need to be answered:

• The age and risk category of those who are or have been hospitalized with COVID-19
• The age and risk category of those who have died from complications from COVID-19
• The number of hospital beds (inpatient and ICU) available by county and hospital
• The number of active cases that must be reached for our statewide hospital system to be overwhelmed
• The number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 who have recovered
• The number of tests completed on individual patients with COVID-19 to determine recovery
• A definition of what “recovered” means
• Demographic data on all people tested for COVID-19
• ZIP codes for all confirmed COVID-19 cases
• Cumulative number of hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and ventilator usage

These are common sense questions that protect patient privacy while providing the right information for our state leaders to make informed decisions. Further delay in releasing this information leaves the public and policymakers without the critical data necessary to reopen our state, and will prolong the devastation so many North Carolinians are experiencing.”

Lt. Gov. Forest is running against the incumbent Gov. Roy Cooper for the NC Governor seat this November. Forest has remained mostly silent about the COVID-19 response until today. 

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