Can a County Bar Entry?

With the COVID-19 / Coronavirus coming to North Carolina, the state and local governments are preparing to respond with measures designed to slow the spread of the disease and “flatten the curve.”

These measures include travel restrictions, stay-at-home advisories, and even restrictions on who can and cannot enter a particular county or city. Dare County has imposed a permit process that allows only residents of Dare and surrounding counties entry into the county for the time being.

NCGS 166A-19.31 provides the framework:

• Imposing a curfew.
• Directing and compelling the voluntary or mandatory evacuation of all or part of the population from any stricken or threatened area within the governing body’s jurisdiction.
• Prescribing routes, modes of transportation, and destinations in connection with evacuation.
• Controlling ingress and egress of an emergency area, and the movement of persons within that area.
• Providing for the closure, within the emergency area, of streets, roads, highways, bridges, public vehicular areas, or other areas