60 NC DMVs close amid coronavirus pandemic; over 50 remain open amid coronavirus pandemic
Just before 5 p.m., the NCDMV announced new changes including the closure of 60 locations amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 60 locations with the fewest examiner stations and office setups were chosen to close because it would be difficult to practice social distancing.
Customers who have appointments are being contacted and will be given new appointments.
Affected employees are being moved to the more than 50 locations that will remain open.
Some local locations remaining open include Cary, Durham, Clayton, Fayetteville, Fuquay-Varina, Goldsboro, Kinston, Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Smithfield and Wilson.
The open locations will no longer conduct road tests except for commercial driver's license and medical reassessments.
All customers for the driver license offices will be asked to complete a wellness questionnaire provided by the state health officials to mitigate the potential spread of the virus in our driver license offices.
Customers who have appointments at the open offices can keep those appointments, except for driving tests, and will be given priority if they reschedule their appointments after offices re-open.
You can check the status of your location here.
Several ABC11 viewers experienced long lines at DMVs and said "social distancing" was falling by the wayside inside the state-run locations.
An ABC11 crew traveled around Wake County and went to several DMVs and did not find people cramped inside locations, but learned about the changes being rolled out.
Brandon Blake went in by himself to get his driver's permit. His mom was forced to wait in the car.
"They said that anybody who's like extra had to go outside, so I was just like the only one that was allowed," said Blake.
DMVs are limiting access as coronavirus cases continue to rise.
There are concerns over social distancing.
Efforts are being made to keep people away from each other.
"Everybody is being spaced apart, like two, three chairs in between," said Jose del Cueto.
An ABC11 crew did, however, see that state employees were still giving driving tests. That put a state worker in close proximity with the average person.
The State of Maryland announced it would be curtailing some of its services and suspending driving tests.
ABC11 brought this worry straight to state officials.
Governor Roy Cooper has placed restrictions businesses and restaurants how they can operate. We asked if the DMV is an essential service right now and if the safety of state employees is being compromised.
"We want all our state employees to be safe, and all of our essential functions that are going on in state government, there is guidance being given to the employee and our human resources department is working closely to make sure that the public is still served, but our employees are being protected," said Governor Cooper.
