Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Oct. 13
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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 234,000
At least 234,481 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 3,816 have died, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday reported 1,734 new COVID-19 cases, down from 1,276 the day before.
Forty-three coronavirus-related deaths were reported Tuesday.
About 7.1% of tests were reported positive on Sunday, the most recent day available. That’s higher than the 5% target set by health officials.
At least 1,103 people in North Carolina were reported hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, down from 1,109 reported the day before. Recent daily hospitalization totals are the highest they have been since August.
Health officials as on Monday estimated 206,471 people in the state have recovered from coronavirus symptoms.
Officials urge safety compliance as cases rise
Dr. Mandy Cohen, state Department of health and Human Services secretary, said North Carolina’s COVID-19 trends are getting worse as hospitalizations continue to top 1,000 and daily cases reach levels not seen since a peak in July.
The uptick comes as Gov. Roy Cooper allowed bars, amusement parks, movie theaters and other venues to reopen on Oct. 2 with some restrictions under Phase 3. But Cohen said nothing specific is responsible for the increase.
“This worsening of our trends is concerning and we need to do all we can to turn those trends around,” she said. “We do not want to have to go backwards.”
Businesses that saw help from congressional aid programs over the summer say they need more help to survive the pandemic. Many are fearful of a second shutdown if businesses “become lax enforcing mask requirements and social distancing,” The News & Observer reported.
“We want to encourage restaurants to do the right thing so we don’t have to roll backwards,” said Lynn Minges, director of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association. “We’d encourage customers who’ve been exposed to COVID-19 not to come into restaurants, for everyone to wear face coverings and practice social distancing. If we don’t, I’m concerned we may see a regression.”
COVID-19 press conferences often leave out conservative media
Some conservative-leaning news outlets say Gov. Roy Cooper’s style of conducting COVID-19 news conferences — which reporters are not allowed to attend in-person — prevents them from asking questions.
Journalists sign up in advance to ask questions on the phone and Cooper’s staff selects them from a list.
Public records of Cooper’s news conferences in August show conservative media rarely gets to ask a question. Larger Raleigh-based outlets, meanwhile, almost always do, The News & Observer reported.
Carolina Journal, a publication by the conservative John Locke Foundation, the newspaper North State Journal and Charlotte talk radio station WBT were among the news outlets snubbed.
According to Carolina Journal Editor-in-Chief Rick Henderson, the publication has a reporter signed up for almost every news conference but rarely gets to ask a question. The outlet has previously criticized the governor’s COVID-19 restrictions as “too draconian,” The N&O reported.
“It would be helpful and responsible (and transparent) if the governor allowed credentialed reporters to attend the briefings,” Henderson said in an email. “We can wear masks, go through screening, sit far apart. ... You could have much more interaction and have a better opportunity to follow up if a question or answer wasn’t clear.”
After COVID-19 diagnosis, Tillis cleared for Supreme Court nominee hearings
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis is joining in-person hearings for the nominee to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
The move comes after Tillis, a Republican representing North Carolina, announced earlier this month that he contracted COVID-19. The senator shared a letter in which his doctor authorized him to go back to work Tuesday.
Tillis on Monday participated remotely in Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, who was nominated to join the high court.
“I look forward to returning to Washington and participating in-person at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings and confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court,” Tillis said, according to The News & Observer.
Tillis was among those who tested positive after going to the White House on Sept. 26 to hear President Donald Trump announce he had nominated Barrett.
Face masks not required at NC polling places
As North Carolina elections officials urge in-person voters to wear face coverings, they aren’t required at polling places.
Elections officials can’t deny people their constitutional right to vote, even if they are going against the statewide mask mandate, The News & Observer reported Tuesday.
The N.C. State Board of Elections has said face coverings will be provided for people who don’t bring them, and everyone will be “strongly encouraged” to wear a mask. State health officials have said they can help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Early voting starts Thursday, and people who don’t feel comfortable to the polls can request absentee ballots through Oct. 27.
During the pandemic, more people than usual have voted by mail in North Carolina. Among the ballots cast, Black voters as of Sunday made up a disproportionate number of people who are stuck in limbo over ballots submitted without signatures or other information.
“Black voters account for nearly 41% of those ballots, even though they make up 20.7% of registered voters in North Carolina and have cast only 15.8% of mail-in ballots,” The News & Observer reported Tuesday.
Until courts decide the next step for ballots that are missing information, the state has asked election boards to put them aside.
NC to test prison staff
All employees at three of North Carolina’s state prisons will be tested for COVID-19 in a pilot project aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.
About 10% of the state’s prison inmates have been infected by the coronavirus, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Testing began Monday and will be completed at the Scotland Correctional Institution in Lauringburg, the Dan River Work Farm northeast of Greensboro, and the Greene Correctional Institution, which is about 80 miles east of Raleigh. Scotland Correctional has had one of the worst prison outbreaks in the state with more than 400 cases among inmates.
At least 1,050 of North Carolina’s 14,000 prison staff members have contracted COVID-19 and at least one has died, according to the Observer.
“This is another strategy to curb the introduction of the virus into our prisons,” state prisons Commissioner Todd Ishee said. “Staff safety during this pandemic is a top priority. This will help to keep them healthy, their families safer from the virus, and will better protect the offender populations.”
Debate over reopening schools looms in superintendent race
North Carolina’s candidates for state superintendent of public instruction have two different plans for how to help public school students during the coronavirus pandemic, The News & Observer reported.
Parents, students and educators have debated when and how to safely reopen the state’s public schools for in-person instruction. Some parents say virtual learning isn’t working, but teachers are worried about the exposure to COVID-19 if they go back.
Catherine Truitt, a Republican and chancellor of Western Governors University North Carolina who was an education adviser to former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, has said Gov. Roy Cooper should have given school districts the autonomy to fully reopen.
“What we wound up getting is a one-size-fits-all for whether or not a school should be in session,” Truitt said at a Sept. 24 candidate forum at Meredith College in Raleigh, hosted by Spectrum News. “I would have rather seen that decision left up to local districts.”
But Jen Mangrum, a Democrat and associate professor at UNC Greensboro’s School of Education, said the decision to reopen should be based on the state’s COVID-19 metrics and bolstered by the necessary personal protective equipment to help teachers feel safe.
“Educators are afraid,” Mangrum said in a meeting with the editorial boards of The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer. “They’re very concerned, and I think they have reason to be.”
Southwest adds new routes to Charlotte
Two nonstop routes by Southwest Airlines are coming to Charlotte Douglas International Airport after flights ground to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic.
Starting Nov. 4, Southwest will operate daily flights from CLT to Denver and seasonal flights from CLT to Phoenix, The Charlotte Observer reported. The seasonal flights to Phoenix will be offered on certain peak days around the holidays in November and December and then daily in February and March.
Southwest currently operates nine flights a day out of Charlotte to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Dallas Love Field and Chicago Midway International Airport, Southwest spokesman Brian Parrish told The Observer.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 6:57 AM.
