Health & Safety

Some Local NC Governments Mandate Facemasks In Public

88.5 WFDD - Public Radio For The Piedmont | By Keri Brown

Published June 18, 2020 at 4:42 PM EDT

Some North Carolina municipalities are beginning to implement ordinances that require people to wear facemasks in public. It may come to the Triad as well.

The number of patients in the state hospitalized with COVID-19 has reached another new high this week: more than 850 as of Thursday. This comes as cases continue to spike in some areas and testing increases.

Some local governments are mandating the use of facemasks in their communities. Dr. Christopher Ohl with Wake Forest Baptist Health says it's likely we'll start to see similar ordinances in the Triad because they are effective.

“This is the ticket to getting our numbers back down again and for pushing our curves back down without having to do all of the pain that we did with lockdowns, shelter in place, or staying home. No one wants to go back to that,” says Ohl.

The city of Raleigh now requires people to wear facemasks and Buncombe County recently passed a similar policy for indoor public facilities.

Earlier this week, Governor Roy Cooper said he would also consider a statewide measure to slow the spread of the virus.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

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Keri Brown

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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Some Local NC Governments Mandate Facemasks In Public

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