Gov. Roy Cooper extended the nightly curfew and other coronavirus restrictions in North Carolina until Feb. 28.

The governor's emergency orders, including the curfew and 9 p.m. cutoff for alcohol sales, were set to expire Friday. Cooper's statewide 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew began December 8.

"We cannot let our guard down, especially during these cold winter months," Cooper said during a news conference Wednesday.

"While it's good to see our numbers are decreasing and stabilizing, they remain too high. We need to keep up our efforts to slow the spread of the virus," the governor said.  

Cooper also extended the moratorium on evictions and the order allowing to-go mixed-drink sales. With Cooper's announcement Wednesday, essentially all the current orders are extended to the end of February.

The order allowing restaurants to sell to-go mixed drinks is extended to the end of March, Cooper said.

Daily case numbers have come down in recent days. Public health officials reported 5,587 new cases Wednesday, less than half of the peak earlier this month.

Hospitalizations are also down. The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 3,305 people hospitalized with COVID-19 Wednesday. Since March 2020, 8,915 people have died from the virus, DHHS data shows.

DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said the state has gotten past the spike in cases from the holiday season. The number of people reporting coronavirus-like symptoms is down and so is the number of people getting testing for the virus.

The percent of tests coming back positive remains above 10%, Cohen said. That number is lower than recent weeks but she says it need to be less than 5% to show the state has a handle on the spread of the virus.

The vaccination campaign has picked up the pace, Cohen said at the news conference. She said the state's hospitals and public health departments have given out more than 99% of first doses of the vaccine.

Cohen said the state doesn't have enough vaccine for everyone that wants one. But, she said, the federal government will send North Carolina 16% more vaccine doses next week for people to ge their first show. That means the state will get 140,000 doses of vaccines next week.

Most counties in North Carolina are now vaccinating people 65 and older, but the vaccines are in short supply.

"I know this is a maddening and frustrating time for many of you," Cooper said. "Hundreds of thousands of you have had success in getting vaccinated, but many more of you haven’t been able to get appointments or have been put on waiting lists."