On Thursday, Dr. Mandy Cohen gave an urgent warning as coronavirus cases continue to rise: her team is stressing, now - more than ever - that masks are key to slowing the spread of the virus.
For more than 100 days, state leaders have kept a close eye on the data regarding coronavirus. Numbers are trending in an unsettling direction, but Governor Cooper believes - together, we can get things back on track.
"We do not want to go backward. What we want people to do more is to wear face masks, and social distance," the Governor said.
In that same briefing, Dr. Cohen pointed to a number of recent studies, showing masks - work.
"This is an incredibly effective tool," she said.
When asked why there's no state-wide mask mandate yet, the Governor said, leaders are still drafting a plan.
"You can't just snap your finger and say, hey it's a rule, everybody do it," he said, "It's got to be something that's well thought through, and something that will be effective with the least intrusion that we can have on people."
Dr. Christopher Ohl, an Infectious Disease Specialist at Wake Forest Baptist Health explains you should be wearing a mask, whether it's mandatory or not.
"This is our ticket for getting our numbers back down again and pushing our curves back down without dealing with the pain of lockdown, shelter in place, and staying at home," he said.
Looking ahead, universities - like UNC Greensboro - are already implementing mask-wearing policies for students and staff on campus. They go into effect immediately and will last through the fall semester.
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