Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte began their first day of the county-wide ‘Stay At Home Order‘, during which all non-essential workers are “restricted to shelter at their places of residents,” or face possible class 2 misdemeanor charges.

The order was first announced on Tuesday and was set to take effect this morning at 8am in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19 around our city (now up to 170 confirmed cases in Mecklenburg County).

This morning at around 9 am, I drove through Uptown Charlotte to observe the condition of our city.

The streets were eerily quiet, apart from the occasional construction truck and patrol car.

Foot traffic was limited to CMPD officers, construction workers, our homeless residents, and the occasional jogger.

Most restaurants were still open, but only for take-out orders.

Flags around are city were set to half-staff to honor all those who have died during this pandemic.

Many of our residents are struggling to pay their bills, and some businesses have already been forced to close amid the shutdowns.

Our city is hurting, but our city is strong.

With 142 cases of COVID-19 now confirmed in Mecklenburg County, officials have just issued a sweeping ‘Stay at Home Order‘ in attempt to stop the widening spread across the Charlotte region.

Beginning on Thursday at 8am, all Mecklenburg County residents are “restricted to shelter at their places of residents. All persons may leave their residences only for Essential Activities, Essential Governmental Functions, to operate Essential Business”. Residents will still be allowed to go shopping for food, drugs, and hardware, pickup take-out from a restaurant, go to the hospital (or vet), and get exercise (as long as you keep 6 feet between you and others).

Beginning on Thursday at 8am, all “non-essential” business and operations are required to immediately cease all functions (“essential” businesses are urged to remain open, including; hospitals, veterinarians, essential infrastructure, essential government, restaurants for consumption off-premises, media, gas stations and auto repair facilities, financial institutions, hardware and supply stores, critical trades, mail delivery, educational institutions, laundry services, childcare for exempted employees, supply chain functions for food and critical products, hotels and motels, and funeral services).

The order concludes by warning; “any person violating any prohibition or restriction imposed by this proclamation as authorized by the Joint Proclamation of State of Emergency shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor in accordance with G.S. 14-288.20A.”

For additional information, you can read the complete Stay At Home Order here.

High school students and parents now have the opportunity to turn some of their new-found time together into something positive and rewarding by opening the conversation about life after high school.

The Charlotte-based developers of the Student Career Path Planning Program believe they can help students and parents make the most of all those hours they are spending at home by offering their online program for free for 30 days.

A $350 value, the program was designed to help answer many of the questions high schoolers and parents have about the future. It helps students learn more about themselves, so they can put together a plan to get where they want to go while working with their parents and a career coach.

“This is for parents and students. It can help them have really great conversations while they are spending more time together than usual these days,” said Cathie Clarkson, program director and coach. “It’s an opportunity to help them put this time together to good use; to actually gain some momentum on the student’s path to the future.

“That plan may involve college, vocational school, the military or something else altogether, but until a teenager begins to understand some basic truths about themselves, they may end up somewhere they don’t want to be.”

The Student Career Path Planning Program helps a student determine the path that works best for them. It has them look at their strengths and acknowledge their weaknesses and helps them discover things about themselves that will help them create a path for success.

The program includes online courses with easy-to-understand lessons, videos, assessments, activities and live, real-time coaching. Parallel parent curriculum helps everyone develop common language for conversations and decisions for the future.

More information and registration for the complimentary Student Career Path Planning Program can be found at studentcareerpathplanning.com. Once registration is complete, users will have full access to all online classes and can register for one real-time virtual personal career coaching session.

According to this morning’s press release from the Mecklenburg County Public Health Department, there are currently 80 known cases of novel coronavirus COVID-19 in our county.

The department also provided detail information about the location and demographics of all 80 cases in our county, showing at least half of cases were between 20-39 and almost every zip code in the county currently have a case.

“I want to continue to encourage our community to follow the Public Health Orders that have been issued to help stop the spread of this disease in our community,” said Gibbie Harris, Mecklenburg County Public Health Director. “As the situation evolves, we will continue to provide more data and make decisions to protect the health of our residents.”

Here is the demographic breakdown of all current COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg County:

Here is the breakdown of where all of the cases are located by zip code:

According to the NC Department of Health and Human Services, there are now 297 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across our state (as of 8:35a.m., March 23, 2020), with 12 cases in Union County, 4 cases in Gaston County, 6 cases in Iredell County, and 6 cases in Cabarrus County:

According to the CDC, patients with confirmed CoVID-19 infection have reportedly had mild to severe respiratory illness with symptoms of:

• fever
• cough
• shortness of breath

CDC believes at this time that symptoms of CoVID-19 may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 after exposure. This is based on what has been seen previously as the incubation period of MERS viruses.

Some of the best ways to stay healthy include;

• Wash your hands often with antiviral soap, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are are coughing or sneezing.
• Using NAC (N-acetyl L-cysteine)
• Using probiotics (especially those containing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium)
• Immunity boosting vitamins, including; zinc, vitamin C, and vitamin D3

If you have any questions about CoVID-19 you can call 866-462-3821 or submit questions online at ncpoisoncontrol.org.