Buncombe County will revise its ‘stay home stay safe’ declaration to further align with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s statewide stay at home order. The new Buncombe County order goes into effect Friday morning May 1st at 6 a.m.
Among the changes the revised order now allows in Buncombe County are gatherings of up to 10 people in public, though they must still observe physical distancing of six feet. Where the county still restricts more than the state according to public heath emergency preparedness director Fletcher Tove are limits at funerals (no more than 10 people) and a ban on lodging facilities accepting reservations for non-essential and leisure travel.
County board of commissioners chair Brownie Newman said at a Thursday press conference that restrictions on leisure travel and tourism-related activities will likely stay in place even after stay at home order ends, whenever that may occur. When North Carolina enters Phase 1 of re-openingas outlined by Governor Cooper, there will still be a ban on public gatherings of more than 10 people. Phase 1 is scheduled to last a minimum of two weeks, before Phase 2 could start. Newman says restrictions on tourism probably wouldn’t be relaxed until Phase 2 begins.
Governor Cooper’s latest stay at home order expires on May 8th. Whether it is extended past that will be determined by a set of trends regarding new cases of COVID-19 in the state, as well as the capacity to test and contact trace, and the amount of PPE available to responders.
