Wake County mayors say they won't reinstate mask mandate even as cases surge

Zebulon saw a 98% increase and Apex saw an 89% increase, according to data from the state Department of Health and Human Services.

The positivity rate in Morrisville, Wake Forest and Holly Springs is up more than 70% in the past seven days. Most towns and cities in Wake County don't require a mask mandate, but Garner, Raleigh, Knightdale, Morrisville, Rolesville and Zebulon do.

WRAL News has reached out to the mayors of every town without a mask mandate in Wake County to find out if they're considering implementing new mandates. As of 4 p.m. on Wednesday, only three had responded.

6 people are testing positive for COVID-19 each minute in NC, WRAL analysis shows

Mayors of Fuquay-Varina, Wake Forest and Holly Springs all said they would not be reinstating a mask mandate at this time. Mayors of Wake Forest and Holly Springs said they weren't going to rule it out as a possibility.

"We are continuing to review and monitor the data as it comes in this week," said Sean Mayefskie, mayor of Holly Springs. "Holly Springs has a high overall vaccination rate, and we will let residents know if there are any changes to our town policies going forward."

WRAL News has not heard back from the towns of Cary, Wendell and Apex.

While Cary has the highest vaccination rate in the county, it still saw a 70% increase in its case positivity rate.

Since Tuesday, Wake has reported more than 2,600 cases and over the past two weeks the county has reported around 940 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents, according to DHHS.

North Carolina reported 9,377 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday — a number not seen in a single day since Sept. 11. That's a 90% increase when compared to last Wednesday.

Six people are testing positive for COVID-19 every minute in North Carolina, according to an analysis from WRAL Data Trackers.

Most towns, cities in Wake County will not require masks, mayors say

More than 2,100 people are hospitalized across the state with COVID-19. That number has nearly doubled since last Wednesday, state data shows.

While still relatively low, the number of pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations has also increased since last week. At least 31 children across the state are hospitalized with the virus.