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Mecklenburg County Transitions To NC Stay-At-Home Order; More Businesses Deemed 'Essential'

Erin Keever
/
WFAE
Mecklenburg County will transition to the more lenient North Carolina stay-at-home order Wednesday.

Mecklenburg County, the city of Charlotte and six county towns agreed Tuesday to transition from the county stay-at-home order to the statewide order issued by Gov. Roy Cooper that now extends to May 8.

The slightly more lenient North Carolina order deems more businesses as "essential."

Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio speaks at a press conference last week.

The county order expires Wednesday.

Among those businesses now considered essential under the stay-at-home order: car dealerships, landscaping services and real estate brokerage.

The full list of businesses now considered essential: 

  • Defense and military contractors that develop products, processes, equipment, technology, and related services that serve the United States military, national defense, and national security interests.
  • Electronic retailers that sell or service cell phones, computers, tablets, and other communications technology.
  • Lawn and garden equipment retailers.
  • Book stores that sell educational material.
  • Religious facilities, entities, groups, gatherings, including funerals. Also, services, counseling, pastoral care, and other activities provided by religious organizations to the members of their faith community. Gatherings may not exceed 10 people.
  • Insurance companies, underwriters, agents, brokers, and related insurance claims and agency services.
  • Real estate services including brokerage, appraisal and title services.
  • Automobile dealers.

Even those businesses deemed essential under the statewide order must maintain social distancing requirements that demand six feet of distance between people and limits gatherings to no more than 10 people. One exception to the 10-person rule is funerals, which have a 50-person limit.
Additionally, retail businesses can take orders online or by phone and provide curbside service.

“We believe this provides businesses the parameters needed, but doing it in a safe, responsible manner,” Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio said.

Jodie Valade has been a Digital News and Engagement Editor for WFAE since 2019. Since moving to Charlotte in 2015, she has worked as a digital content producer for NASCAR.com and a freelance writer for publications ranging from Charlotte magazine to The Athletic to The Washington Post and New York Times. Before that, Jodie was an award-winning sports features and enterprise reporter at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. She also worked at The Dallas Morning News covering the Dallas Mavericks — where she became Mark Cuban's lifelong email pen pal — and at The Kansas City Star. She has a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Master of Education from John Carroll University. She is originally from Rochester Hills, Michigan.