Derek Lacey|Asheville Citizen Times
Starting Oct. 29, masks will no longer be required in Buncombe County by governmental order unless the Board of Commissioners intervenes.
Buncombe County's current mask mandateand declaration of a local state of emergency,enacted by the Board of Commissioners Aug. 18, was extended until Oct. 29 during a Sept. 22 meeting.
The board's next regularly scheduled meeting is set for Nov. 2. The agenda wasn't posted on the county board's website Oct. 26.
The current order requires people to wear masks when gathering in indoor public spaces including businesses, offices andworkplaces, as well asrestaurants and bars when not actively eating or drinking.
But unlike the earlier mandate that imposed fines and potential closures for businesses violating the order, enforcement of the most recent mask requirement falls to individual businesses, the county says.
That joint order, enacted in November 2020 by Buncombe County and Asheville, also required businesses to post maximum occupancies, signs saying masks are required and an employee stationed at entrances ensuring that maximum occupancy and mask requirements were followed.
Previous coverage: Officials vote 6-1 to extend mask mandate for Buncombe, Asheville, other towns
The county's current order says law enforcement can enforce trespassing laws if an unmasked personrefuses to leave after being denied entry to a business ororganization that requires masks.
Public Health Director Stacie Saunders, in a media call Oct. 20, said county health officials continue to monitor the county's COVID-19 metrics such as new cases, hospitalizations and test positivity rate, which will drive the recommendation they give county commissioners on the mask mandate.
She said county health officials are paying attention to the new case rate, transmission rate, percent positivity, hospitalizations and deaths.
"Those five indicators are the ones that we routinely look at to help drive our recommendations and decision making," Saunders said during the call.
Three or more of those indicators reach substantial or high transmission levels marked a "light switch" for the county in recommending a mask mandate for Buncombe County, she said.
More: Buncombe's COVID-19 rates continue steady fall; county readies to vaccinate 5- to 11-year-olds
"The levels that we see now, it's very encouraging that they continue to decrease, but ... Buncombe County is an area of high transmission," Saunders said Oct. 20. "Ideally, I would want to see that case rate continue to decrease, most certainly coming below 100."
Percent positivity, while gradually decreasing, is dropping slowly, she said, calling hospitalization numbers "very encouraging."
In a press release Oct. 26, Buncombe County Health and Human Services reported there were 116 new cases per 100,000 population per week, a 5.4% test positivity rate and 1.9 COVID-19-related deaths per 100,000 population per week.
"I think we can be encouraged by these trends but we cannot let our guard down today," Saunders said in the release. "We are still in a time of very high spread of COVID-19."
She said the county has typically seen increase in cases with upcoming holidays, encouraging folks to get vaccinated, wear masks indoors, wash their hands and maintain distance from others.
In August, when the mandate was reinstated, there were 261 new cases per 100,000 Buncombe residents per week, up from 151 two weeks prior and six times what it was a month before that, according to the order.
More on mask mandate: Masks mandated now for Asheville, Buncombe County businesses, other public indoor spaces
COVID booster: Need a COVID booster? Buncombe County, UNC Asheville offer free, walk-in clinics
As of Saunders' Oct. 19 update to the Board of Commissioners two months later, the county recorded 162 new cases per 100,000 residents per week, with a 6.1% test positivity rate.
The state Department of Health and Human Services lists Buncombe's test positivity rate at 5.4%, and in the Western 17 counties that make up the Mountain Area Healthcare Preparedness Coalition, the state reported 119 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, down from 243on Sept. 26.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Buncombe County is still a high transmission area for the coronavirus, with 404 new COVID-19 cases in the seven days ending Oct. 26, marking a rate of 154.68 new cases per 100,000 residents in that time and a 5.33% test positivity rate.
Anything over 100 new cases per 100,000 population per week is considered high transmission per the CDC.
Only 12 of the state's 100 counties have less than a high transmission rating from the CDC, including Cherokee, Swain and Transylvania.
Cherokee County is the only county in the state with a moderate rate of transmission, around 49 new cases per 100,000 residents per week and a 3.8% transmission rate. Swain, Transylvania and eight other counties in the state are rated with substantial rates of transmission.
Statewide, COVID-19 cases have continued a steady decline after the delta variant led a new surge of cases that peaked in early September.
On Sept. 3, the state Department of Health and Human Services recorded 8,590 new COVID-19 cases. From there, numbers have fallen gradually over nearly two months, to 1,340 reported Oct. 26 and 1,183 Oct. 25.
Derek Lacey covers health care, growth and development for the Asheville Citizen Times. Reach him at DLacey@gannett.com or 828-417-4842 and find him on Twitter @DerekAVL.
