GREENSBORO, N.C. — Roped pillars leading up to the entrance of retail stores will become a more common occurrence now that more restrictions are in effect in North Carolina.
At 5 p.m. Monday, Gov. Roy Cooper's executive order took effect, limiting the number of people in one store at a time.
The order said only 5 people are allowed for every 1,000 square feet of retail space, or 20 percent of fire marshal posted occupancy limits.
The order also directs stores to mark six feet of distance for areas where several people gather, like checkout lines.
The order requires stores to take specific measures when cleaning.
"We continue to see the virus accelerate through North Carolina, but at a much slower pace because people are following the executive order of social distancing. What we are doing is working. We are saving lives," said Gov. Cooper during a news conference Monday afternoon.
The state continues to stress how important social distancing is in the battle against the coronavirus.
"Our biggest enemy is complacency the better we can be at staying home through April the more likely we are to ease restrictions," said Cooper.
Cooper said he and others on a state level are working to look at how they can potentially ease up on restrictions if the progress they've seen continues.
"We know North Carolina's economy needs to be jump-started and we know that we have people planning right now about how we do that. Working with health experts looking at what restrictions we can ease that would still help protect people but help start our economy," said Cooper.
"The more we can stay at home, the more we can flatten this curve, the more we can ease the restrictions going into the month of May and we certainly look forward to that," he said.
Now, just how exactly the state will determine what those more lenient restrictions are, depends on what the data looks like moving forward.
"We're looking at the number of new cases that are coming about and were looking at the trends of hospitalization and the availability of hospital beds," said Cooper, "We're looking at all of those things and obviously we want the leveling off to the point of feeling comfortable about easing some of the restrictions."
Cooper said the next two weeks are going to be crucial for social distancing.
"if some people want us to completely obliterate these restrictions it would be a catastrophe," he said.