Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Sept. 17
We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases top 189,000
At least 189,576 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 3,180 have died, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday reported 1,552 new COVID-19 cases, up from 1,137 reported the day before. Thursday’s total was the highest reported since Sept. 5.
Thirty-one coronavirus-related deaths were reported Thursday.
About 5.6% of tests were reported positive as of Tuesday, the latest day for which data is available, slightly above health officials’ goal of 5% or lower. Monday’s 5.8% had been the highest percentage reported in six days.
At least 894 people in North Carolina were reportedly hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Thursday, down from 918 reported the day before.
Health officials are watching for a spike in cases related to Labor Day weekend. The state experienced a spike in the weeks after the Fourth of July holiday. But it will take 14 to 21 days to know if Labor Day activities led to an increase in cases.
“We still need to see how this week goes,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state health department. “We are making progress and I’m really proud of the hard work North Carolina has done. We are truly a standout in the South, and I want to continue that.”
UNC System sees record enrollment despite pandemic
More students enrolled at UNC System universities before this fall than ever before despite the pandemic, with half of the schools in the system reporting record-breaking numbers.
UNC System President Peter Hans said during a Board of Governors meeting Thursday that the enrollment numbers are “remarkable” given the “unprecedented disruption” of COVID-19, The N&O reported.
College counselors and credit agencies previously predicted an enrollment collapse, which would have caused severe financial losses.
Hans said he thinks reopening with in-person classes and campus housing played a role.
“It’s a great testament to our institutions, but the faculty and staff in particular, for finding a way to make it work for the students at each of our institutions,” Hans said at a media briefing after Thursday’s meeting.
Cooper announces elementary schools can reopen
Gov. Cooper announced Thursday that school districts can reopen elementary schools for daily in-person learning as early as Oct 5.
Most students in the state have been attending virtual school or getting a mix of in-person and remote learning due to COVID-19. But Cooper said Thursday that elementary schools can reopen with “minimal social distancing” measures.
Middle and high schools are still subject to the moderate social distancing requirements that limit how many students can be on campus.
“We’re able to open this option because most North Carolinians have doubled down on our safety and prevention measures and stabilized our numbers,” the governor said Thursday. “The science of lower viral spread among younger children also backs up this decision.”
But the North Carolina Association of Educators, the state’s largest teachers group, is unhappy.
“Local school districts already have significant flexibility to open for in-person instruction, and loosening guidelines further is flirting with danger,” NCAE president Tamika Walker Kelly said in a statement.
The announcement comes as state Republican leaders and parents on Wednesday pressured Cooper to give families the choice of fully in-person instruction at schools. Many in the GOP have slammed the previous decision to not have on-campus classes full time. They say virtual learning can be hard on families and plan to mobilize people statewide to press Cooper, a Democrat.
But some Democrats have backed the state’s plan, saying it’s good to err on the side of caution when it comes to a full return to school.
The Wake County school system is considering having every student come to campus daily when they return to in-person instruction.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will start phasing students back to campuses for in-person Oct. 12. Younger students would return first. Middle schoolers wouldn’t come back until at least Nov. 23 and high schoolers wouldn’t return until likely the end of the year.
Durham streets to open for ‘low-key festivities’
Some downtown Durham streets will block car traffic to allow people to walk around during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Streetery includes 25 restaurants that will offer outdoor dining with social distancing and mask requirements through the Christmas holiday, The News & Observer reported Thursday.
The area will also be decorated in lights and include musical performances.
“This is really being driven by a need to help our restaurants,” said Nicole Thomspon, chief executive officer of Downtown Durham Inc. “And understanding that in Durham, we support our locally grown businesses, and a lot of our businesses in downtown, our small entrepreneurial restaurants, are struggling right now.”
COVID-19 cancels game, some football parents push Cooper
A game between two North Carolina college football teams is canceled after some players went into quarantine.
The UNC Charlotte 49ers had been scheduled to face UNC-Chapel Hill on Saturday.
But some players on the 49ers offensive line went into quarantine due to COVID-19 contact tracing efforts at UNC Charlotte, according to the school.
“Three positive cases have been reported from Charlotte football players over the past three weeks,” The Charlotte Observer reported Thursday. “Those players are in isolation and receiving medical care.”
The 49ers are still expected to play their first home game of the season on Sept. 26 against Georgia State.
After the cancellation, the Tar Heels will try to find a new team to play on Sept. 26, an open date in their schedule.
The announcement came as some parents of N.C. State football players started a petition to convince Gov. Cooper to allow them to attend Saturday’s home game against Wake Forest.
North Carolina is under Phase 2.5 of the state’s plan to lift coronavirus-related restrictions, meaning outdoor arenas are capped at 50 people. N.C. State received 50 tickets to be first offered to parents of players in their fourth and fifth years, The News & Observer reported Thursday.
“If you have a football game, you have 200 people on the field, so he (Cooper) has already amended his order,” said John Ruocchio, dad of a redshirt senior for the Wolfpack.
Changes made to small business loan program
A small business loan program in North Carolina now has more generous terms.
The program needs to give out more than $53 million before its deadline. The Rapid Recovery Loan Program had $75 million in funding from from the legislature on top of $15 million in funding from the Golden LEAF Foundation, which oversees the program along with the N.C. Rural Center and others.
As of Tuesday the program had issued 1,062 loans, totaling more than $37 million. But half of its budget is left, and the money must be spent by the end of the year under federal coronavirus relief terms. Applications for the program are due Oct. 15.
The Rural Center on Tuesday announced businesses can now borrow up to $250,000 with no payments and 0.25% interest for the first 18 months. Under the previous terms, businesses had five years to repay the loans. Now, they have eight and a half years to do so.
Forest says he’d end mask mandate if governor
Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, a Republican running against Democratic incumbent Gov. Roy Cooper, said Wednesday he would do away with the statewide mask mandate if elected.
“When I’m governor I would lift the mask mandate for the state and allow individual freedom to decide whether they wear a mask,” he said during a news conference.
Cooper issued the mask mandate in late June.
Forest also said he wants to reopen schools and that students and staff shouldn’t be required to wear masks.
“I don’t think there’s any science that backs that up. That’s my personal opinion,” he said. “All science is based on skepticism.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the country’s top health experts recommend the use of face masks in public to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. On Wednesday, CDC chief Dr. Robert Redfield said there is “clear scientific evidence” that they work.
Cooper campaign spokesperson Liz Doherty told The News & Observer on Wednesday that Forest cares more about politics than he does people.
“His dangerous plans and spread of misinformation, especially his insistence that masks don’t work, would set us back in our fight against COVID,” Doherty said.
Rural counties report higher death rate
Rural North Carolina counties have higher coronavirus-related death rates than urban and suburban parts of the state, data show.
“I hope people don’t assume this is just an urban problem,” State Epidemiologist Zack Moore told The Charlotte Observer. “This is something affecting all parts of the state. And rural areas are in no way immune to this problem.”
Some of the state’s rural residents work in food processing facilities, prisons or nursing homes, which have been linked to coronavirus cases.
Experts say there are also systemic problems in rural areas, which tend to have lower access to medical care and office jobs that would allow residents to stay home. The population is typically “older, poorer and sicker than those in the suburbs and cities,” the Observer reported Wednesday.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 7:02 AM.
