If you live in Gaston County and want to reopen your business, you have the full support of the County Commissioners and its chairman, Tracy Philbeck, even though it goes against the Stay At Home order issued by N.C. Governor Roy Cooper.
As of 5 pm, Wednesday, Gaston County commissioners support the reopening of businesses as long as they can adhere to the guidelines of social distancing and sanitation set forth by Cooper.
Businesses are not required to open, it’s up to each individual’s choice.
Philbeck and the commissioners believe that Target, Walmart, Lowe’s, etc., shouldn’t be the only ones allowed to function. They believe it’s “not moral” to only allow billion-dollar corporations and “special interest groups” to serve the public while the smaller and privately owned businesses teeter on going under financially.
They believe that if you can buy a dress at Target, which is usually full of customers even with the statewide order, that you should be able to do that at a locally owned boutique.
Philbeck said each manager of the 10 municipalities within the county were made aware of the new county order and that each city manager was spoken to about the order. Most, if not all, were on board with the new county order.
In terms of enforcement by police, this is where it can get tricky. Philbeck said each person should reach out to their city’s authorities to see where they stand on whether they will side with the Governor and enforce the closures or if they will side with the county decree. However, if you live in the county and not in one of the 10 towns, then you have the full support of the commissioners.
Their argument is also based on not a single hospital in the state is overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. In fact, it’s quite the opposite and that’s why hospitals all over are starting again to do nonessential surgeries.
Philbeck said the number of those hospitalized is what will drive their decisions going forward and if the number should spike, they will pull back. Moreover, Philbeck says that local health and data experts say that deaths are still happening even with the month-long Stay At Home order and there’s nothing they can do to prevent that from occurring.
He believes people losing health insurance, having no income, not getting help from the state in terms of unemployment, and mental health issues impact scores more.
Philbeck said at this rate, the cure will be worse than the virus and he doesn’t want that to happen in Gaston County. He just wants Gaston County to be more like S.C., Ga., and others states that have started to reopen. He strongly believes that one size does not fit all because each county is different and just because one county is impacted doesn’t mean the other 99 are.