More than two years into a state of emergency led by the Covid-19 pandemic, Gov. Roy Cooper announced he will be lifting the designation.
North Carolina has been under a state of emergency (SOE) since March 2020. When Gov. Roy Cooper signed the state budget into law Monday, it included regulatory changes for the Department of Health and Human Services. As a result, the emergency order will be lifted Aug. 15, according to the governor’s press release.
READ MORE: 2 years in: NC, NHC remain in Covid state of emergency
The Tar Heel state will join 29 other states that have already lifted their emergency orders. All 50 states had at one time an order in effect declaring active emergencies in response to the coronavirus.
Businesses were mandated to shut down, masks were required in public and non-essential individuals were ordered to stay home.
Republicans in the N.C. General Assembly penned a letter to Cooper in March asking for the expiration of the order.
When the governor signed the SOE — as authorized under the North Carolina Emergency Management Act, normally activated after natural disasters and for a short period of time — there was no end date distinguished.
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