North Iredell News

North Carolina Sen. Vickie Sawyer (R-Iredell) criticized Gov. Roy Cooper and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for the methodology used to determine the number of COVID-19 cases, that would allow reopening of businesses across the state.

Sawyer made her comments in a Facebook post on Aug. 5 following a briefing from Cooper and other statewide leaders saying that those leaders lack transparency. 

“It is increasingly frustrating to not have complete transparency from the governor and [Department of Health and Human Services] on the exact data metrics they’re using in their decision-making processes,” Sawyer wrote on Facebook.     

Cooper has said that North Carolina will remain at Phase 2 of the business-reopening process for at least five more weeks and that gatherings of more than 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors are prohibited. Bars, nightclubs, gyms, theaters, concerts remain closed.     

Sawyer said that Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen displayed a chart that showed COVID-19-syndrome-like cases to be “continuing to decrease.” However, during a press conference on Aug. 5 to present the numbers, Sawyer said that although the case figure is declining, the line in the chart said it is still "high above baseline.” 

So that trend was now given a yellow line, instead of a green mark that could justify additional business re-openings.

“Now they’ve introduced a new element that not only does it need to continue to decline, but needs to be at a certain percentage to get the ok,” Sawyer wrote in a Facebook. “This may seem like a small detail to fuss about, but it absolutely matters when looking at the bigger picture.”

No detailed explanation was given for use of the yellow line on the chart, Sawyer added.

Sawyer called for the Governor to communicate more clearly the process of determining virus trends.