RALEIGH, N.C. – Under pressure from Republican statewide officials, Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday defended his decisions regarding the state's second reopening phase.

North Carolina's Council of State met virtually Friday morning for a briefing on the state's COVID-19 situation. After the briefing, Cooper and Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen took questions from the council.

Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who is running to unseat Cooper in November, asked why restaurants with bar sections will be allowed to reopen, but bars that don't serve food will not. Cohen said officials made their decision based on the number of risk factors that are present in bars, chief among them sitting in the same place in an indoor environment for more than 10 minutes.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson followed up by asking if breweries, wineries and distilleries are considered bars under phase 2. Cooper said his legal team will provide guidance for such businesses shortly.

Forest also took issue with the way the state's data is being portrayed. He pointed out DHHS estimates more than 12,000 of the state's roughly 21,000 reported cases so far have recovered. Cohen replied although the hospitalization rate has remained flat, the state's positive case growth rate has risen from about 200 new cases per day four weeks ago to roughly 700 new cases per day now.

Some of the strongest comments came from State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who spent several days in the hospital with COVID-19 in early April. Folwell said by keeping gyms closed, state officials are punishing healthy people and putting first responders at risk by not letting them prepare for their physically demanding jobs. He said Cooper had given gym owners his word they would be able to reopen during phase 2 and pushed the governor to make the order immediately.

“These people have gone through tremendous expense. You can do it right now, in the next five seconds,” he said. “I'm actually begging you to do that.”

Cooper responded by saying officials have to make sure they don't allow the public health system to be overwhelmed. He referred to previous public comments in which he said the state would move back to an earlier phase if circumstances warrant.

“A strong economy and good public health go hand in hand. We have said from the beginning that what we want to do is carefully and cautiously reignite the economy,” he said.

Phase 2 is currently scheduled to last until 5 p.m. on June 26.