What a Turkey: King Cooper Ratchets Restrictions Back Up, Reduces Indoor Gathering Limit to 10 Two Weeks Before Thanksgiving

RALEIGH – At the weekly COVID Press Briefing, Governor King Roy Cooper announced that he was ratcheting restrictions tighter once again, with the ‘Mass Gathering Limit’ for indoor gatherings dropping from 25, back to ten.

Our numbers are too high. Considering our trends and cooler weather driving events indoors, North Carolina will remain paused in our current Phase 3 and we will adjust our indoor gathering limit down from 25 to 10 people.

— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) November 10, 2020

Cooper cited ‘worrisome’ trends in case counts. Hospitalizations and positivity rate is relatively stable, and our state has not experienced in dramatic spikes, but the premise of freedom-infringing control over the citizens in the name of public health has been accepted. That means every blip on the graph will tempt the Cooper administration to keep lockdowns or lock them down even tighter.

The move to tighter gathering restrictions comes just two weeks before Thanksgiving, with the holiday gatherings referenced specifically by Cooper and Health Czar Mandy Cohen.

Previously, the Department of Health and Human Services issued micromanaging guidance on celebrating Thanksgiving by limiting the number of people and having meals outside.

And for good measure, Cohen pushed Medicaid expansion as something North Carolina is missing in its tool chest to fight the pandemic, after Cooper asserted his reelection was a mandate on expanding the entitlement program.

Yes; government healthcare is the silver bullet to defeat this virus.

So, Cooper and Cohen have now banned you from having more than 10 people over for Thanksgiving dinner. Who are we to make such decisions for ourselves? All hail King Cooper.