Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on July 8
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We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases top 77,000
At least 77,310 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 1,441 have died, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday reported an additional 1,435 cases of the virus, up from 1,346 reported on Tuesday.
Officials reported 21 additional deaths on Wednesday.
The number of completed daily COVID-19 tests reported Wednesday was 21,051, an increase from the 12,854 reported Tuesday.
Ten percent of completed COVID-19 tests were positive Tuesday. The percentage has stayed in the 8% to 10% range but should ideally be closer to 5%, health officials have said.
More than 1 million total tests have been completed in North Carolina.
Hospitalizations reach new high
The number of people reportedly hospitalized with COVID-19 reached another single-day high Wednesday, with 994.
Wednesday’s total surpassed the previous record of 989 hospitalizations reported the day before.
More than 900 daily hospitalizations have been reported in North Carolina each day since June 30.
Despite a surge in cases and hospitalizations, officials say there are still hospital beds available in the state. About 24% of inpatient beds and 20% intensive-care unit beds were open as of Wednesday, data show.
State health officials on Tuesday said they’re closely monitoring hospitalizations in the Charlotte area, where they’re seeing them “kick up a little bit more than the rest of the state.”
Concern about virtual NC college classes
Colleges and international students in North Carolina are concerned that online classes due to the pandemic in the upcoming fall semester could mean deportation.
The U.S. Department of State won’t issue visas to students who are enrolled in schools fully online during the fall semester, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection won’t allow those students into the country, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, says. Additionally, these students already in the United States will either have to leave the country or transfer to school with in-person instruction.
Most universities in North Carolina, including UNC, Duke and N.C. State, plan to have some in-person instruction in the upcoming semester. But some fear what could happen if that changes.
“The looming threat is what if the coronavirus does exacerbate late in the fall and Duke and other schools do end up going virtual,” Dennis Wang, a junior at Duke University who is from Canada, told The News & Observer.
The policy also pressures international students to take in-person classes.
“It’s effectively forcing those who feel uncertain or unsafe in that situation to choose between continuing their education or being forced to leave the country,” Mark Nance, an associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at N.C. State University, told The N&O.
Override votes fail
The North Carolina General Assembly on Wednesday fell short of overriding Cooper’s vetoes on multiple bills related to the governor’s coronavirus executive orders.
Override votes on bills to reopen gyms and skating rinks in North Carolina both failed Wednesday, one in the House and one in the Senate. The businesses have been required to remain closed under Phase Two of the state’s reopening plan.
Additionally, the legislature failed to override the governor’s veto of a bill that would’ve required the governor to obtain agreement from the Council of State, which is majority Republican, to declare a state of emergency.
Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue said in a news release prior to the votes that legislators need to let Cooper’s vetoes stand.
“We are in a dangerous position with these Reopen NC bills. As state leaders, we cannot cave to the critics, and now is not the time to try to score political points,” Blue said in the release. “Life and death decisions are being made by the General Assembly today. Several other states reopened their economies too soon and are now dealing with a surge in COVID-19 cases.”
On Wednesday morning, about 25 ReopenNC protesters gathered outside the legislature calling for Cooper’s impeachment. But Speaker of the House Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican, told group leader Ashley Smith, “We’re just a few months from an election. . . . ”The voters will get to decide.”
Outbreak at UNC athletics department
A coronavirus outbreak was reported among athletes at UNC-Chapel Hill on Wednesday.
The school says 429 athletes, coaches and staff were tested for the virus, and 37 were positive. The Orange County Health Department says it’s a cluster, meaning there are at least five people who tested positive.
The football team’s voluntary offseason workouts will stop due to the outbreak.
Virtual school option for Wake County students
Wake County families have the option of virtual school in the fall, but those who choose it will have to stick with it for at least a semester.
The Wake Virtual Academy is being created for those who don’t feel comfortable going back to in-person school prior to a COVID-19 vaccine being available. Registration starts Friday, and thousands of students could use the option. Families will remain enrolled in their current school if students attend the academy.
Now the Wake County school system is giving more information about the option.
“Students who choose fully online instruction will remain in that setting through the fall semester,” it posted online Wednesday. “Students may return to their classroom setting in the spring semester, if space permits.
North Carolina school districts are preparing to reopen under health requirements from the state that limit the number of students allowed on campus. Schools are required to develop three reopening plans: for minimal social distancing, moderate social distancing and all-remote learning.
The governor is expected to decide in July which statewide plan to use, and school districts will be able to implement a more restrictive plan. Districts are expecting to use Plan B, which calls for moderate social distancing, but approaches could vary between districts, The N&O reports.
Outbreak at Raleigh nursing home
A coronavirus outbreak was reported Wednesday at a nursing home in Raleigh.
Twenty residents and 16 staff members at Litchford Falls Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center have tested positive for the virus.
The facility is one of a few Wake County elder-care facilities with new outbreaks, according to the data made from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services made public Tuesday.
Smaller outbreaks were reported Tuesday at Cary Health and Rehabilitation, a nursing home, and Sunrise of North Hills, an assisted-living facility. Wake County on Wednesday announced an outbreak at The Oaks at Whitaker Glen-Mayview in Raleigh. The county did not say how many are affected.
Elder-care facilities have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
Statewide, 134 nursing homes and 77 residential care facilities have outbreaks of the virus, data show. More than 4,600 COVID-19 cases and 680 deaths have been reported at nursing homes and more than 1,300 cases and 119 deaths have been reported at residential care facilities.
Feds warn against bogus mask exemption cards
The federal government on Wednesday warned against fake mask exemption cards.
Documents claiming a person doesn’t have to wear a face covering reportedly have popped up in North Carolina, McClatchy News reported. Some of them have a U.S. Department of Justice seal but weren’t issued by the agency, officials said.
In North Carolina, people are required to wear face masks in public to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. There are some exceptions, including for young children and people who have medical conditions.
County clubs among loan recipients
More than a dozen country clubs are among the North Carolina businesses that received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, government data show.
The loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration are designed to help keep small businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. Some country clubs told The Charlotte Observer the outbreak hurt their revenue.
The agency guaranteed almost 122,000 loans to North Carolina businesses since April, helping to save more than 1.2 million jobs.
Federal officials released the names of roughly 16,000 companies in the state that applied for loans of more than $150,000. The Charlotte Observer has compiled a list of businesses into a searchable database, found here.
Prisons to use hotel for quarantine
Some inmates exposed to coronavirus while at North Carolina prisons will quarantine in a hotel following their sentence.
The N.C. Department of Public Safety will rent a 114-room Quality Inn & Suites in Durham to house over 100 people as part of a pilot program. Those in the program will “have no other suitable residence plan in which to complete their quarantine period,” DPS spokesperson Greg Thomas told The News & Observer on Tuesday.
Once their quarantine is over, they will be relocated to their home counties.
The program is expected to cost $1 million — including the rooms, food and other services.
“It does make good sense for an initiative like that to support those being released that have finished their time,” Jim Groves, Durham County’s emergency management director, told The News & Observer. “We don’t want them going home and getting moms and dads, uncles and aunts or whoever potentially sick.”
Testing access eased
State health officials on Tuesday said they simplified coronavirus testing in North Carolina.
The N.C. DHHS issued a standing statewide order on COVID-19 testing and a temporary statewide order on test reporting. Both make it easier for people to get tested and for the state to track results.
A referral from a doctor will no longer be required to get a test and testing sites will be allowed to receive results directly from laboratories.
“Now there is a standing order that says we want people to get tested,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, N.C. DHHS secretary, said during a Tuesday news conference. “It just allows for that testing to happen more quickly as well as for results to go back to that person in a more streamlined way.”
The state is also opening 300 temporary testing sites that will cover 100 ZIP codes with limited access to testing. They will be open until the end of the month and aim to improve testing access for African-American, LatinX and American Indian communities.
The sites will be a mix of drive-thru and walk-up options.
Some bowling alleys can open
Some bowling alleys in North Carolina won the right to reopen in court Tuesday.
Bowling alleys are required to stay closed under Phase Two of the state’s reopening plan. But Wake County Superior Court Judge James Gale said Gov. Roy Cooper has allowed other types of indoor businesses to reopen in the phase and didn’t give a good enough reason why bowling alleys should remain closed.
The governor has faced multiple legal battles over his coronavirus executive orders. Lawsuits have been filed by gym and bar owners, strip clubs and churches. The governor has won battles over strip clubs and bars. But he’s lost others over churches and now bowling alleys.
However, the ruling necessarily doesn’t apply to every bowling alley — only the 75 that are members of the North Carolina Bowling Proprietors Association. It’s unclear which businesses are included on that list.
Cooper plans to immediately appeal the decision, The News & Observer reported.
Outbreak at homeless shelter
Three residents at an emergency homeless shelter in Durham have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Operators of the shelter, run by Urban Ministries of Durham, were told June 29 that a hospitalized resident had tested positive. All residents and workers were then tested for the virus, and two other residents tested positive. All staff members were negative.
The two residents, both asymptomatic, are in isolation.
This is the second coronavirus outbreak at a homeless shelter in Durham. A mother and three children at the Durham Rescue Mission’s shelter for women and children tested positive for COVID-19 in June.
Experiencing homelessness is “essentially an underlying condition” that puts people at a higher risk of a severe case of the coronavirus, Dr. Brian Klausner, a WakeMed doctor, told The News & Observer in April.
Outbreak at child care center
A coronavirus outbreak was reported at another Mecklenburg County child care center Tuesday.
Heaven’s Angels Childcare in Charlotte has an active outbreak of the virus, county officials say. In late June, the county reported the first local child care center outbreak.
A total of 22 other facilities in the county have ongoing outbreaks — including nursing homes, rehab centers, group homes and the Mecklenburg County Detention Center.
Raleigh cancels events
The Raleigh City Council on Tuesday voted to cancel or postpone all fall festivals, road races and parades in the city through at least October.
Many special events in the city had already been canceled or postponed, but some groups were still waiting for official guidance. The new decision affects events like Brewgaloo, Artsplosure, Cuegrass, Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo and Raleigh Tamale Festival. It doesn’t apply to the city’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources programs and the Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex.
Meanwhile, the N.C. State Fair hasn’t been canceled, at least not yet. It’s scheduled for Oct. 15-25, and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture hasn’t made a decision yet on whether to cancel it. Preparations are underway in case it can take place.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 7:13 AM.
