RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — This is the news North Carolinians have been waiting for — and now they can go to a bar to celebrate, too (with a mask).

Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday announced significant rollbacks of restrictions on businesses and other venues, as the rates of COVID19 hospitalizations, deaths and positive cases continue to drop and stabilize across the state.

“After alarmingly high numbers throughout the winter holidays, North Carolina’s trends have declined and stabilized,” Cooper said. “Hospitalizations have dropped to their lowest point since before Thanksgiving. The percent of tests returning positive continues to decline. This is encouraging.”

Specifically, Cooper officially lifted his modified Stay-At-Home closing non-essential businesses like gyms, restaurants, and retail, at 10 p.m. nightly. That order, signed in the wake of

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