North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is hopeful the state can move forward with its planned reopening by May 8th. However, there are four indicators – or metrics – that state officials say must go in the right direction before they greenlight Phase 1.
Two of the four data points are going in the wrong direction. Those include the number of people heading to the Emergency Room with Covid-like symptoms and the number of confirmed positive cases over the last 14 days. Both of these numbers have ticked up.
However, Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, says the other two data points are positive.
"Hospitalization is another important metric because, again, we’ve been working hard to flatten the curve so fewer people get sick at the same time and we don’t overwhelm our medical system. We’ve been largely level in the amount of hospital beds that we have been using for Covid-19 and that’s a good thing."
The other positive indicator: the percentage of positive tests is ticking down. Testing overall has ramped up, which would logically bring with it a higher number of positives – and that’s why a lower percentage is good news.
