Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Oct. 14
We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases top 236,000
At least 236,407 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 3,856 have died, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday reported 1,926 new COVID-19 cases, up from 1,734 the day before.
Forty coronavirus-related deaths were reported Wednesday.
About 6.6% of tests were reported positive on Monday, the most recent day in which data are available. That’s higher than the 5% target set by health officials.
At least 1,152 people in North Carolina were reported hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Wednesday, an increase from 1,129 the day before. Tuesday’s preliminary hospitalization total was reported as 1,103.
Recent daily hospitalization counts are the highest they have been since August.
Coronavirus defines gubernatorial race
The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a defining theme in North Carolina’s race for governor between Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Dan Forest.
Medicaid expansion and teacher raises were the focal point of Cooper’s term last year in a battle against the Republican-controlled state legislature, but now it’s his handling of the pandemic and the resulting lockdown that’s on the ballot, The News & Observer reported.
Some polls show voters support his restrictions and “measured” approach, but attempted legislation and lawsuits indicate it’s not been without pushback.
“Everything is defined by the coronavirus pandemic and how the nation has responded to that, and the state has responded to that,” N.C. Central University political science professor Jarvis Hall told the N&O earlier this summer.
Forest’s campaign, meanwhile, has pitted him against the governor’s coronavirus policies.
The lieutenant governor has held campaign events indoors and outdoors with few masks and little social distancing, videos and photographs show.
While Forest has also been a vocal opponent of abortion and proponent of school choice, Civitas Institute CEO Donald Bryson said “COVID-19 sucks the oxygen out of the room,” The N&O reported.
“He has failed to leverage his current position in the same way that Roy Cooper has,” Bryson said in an interview, citing Cooper’s regular press conferences on television to share updates on coronavirus response.
More colleges suspend in-person classes
Shaw University in Raleigh temporarily suspended in-person classes on Wednesday after six students and a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus.
The cases were identified through mandatory on-campus testing, The News & Observer reported.
The students and staff member are now in isolation, all facilities they used are closed for sanitizing, and the university is conducting contact tracing. In-person instruction is suspended through Friday.
“My priority is to keep all the Shaw community as safe as possible,” Shaw President Dr. Paulette Dillard said in a statement.
Brevard College in western North Carolina also announced Wednesday it will temporarily switch to remote learning after multiple members on a sports team tested positive for COVID-19, The Charlotte Observer reported.
The college has quarantined all members of the team and suspended in-person learning until Friday.
NC pastor dies from COVID-19
Wade McArthur Danner, a 67-year-old pastor in Hickory, died Friday of complications from the coronavirus, his brother Gaither Danner told The Charlotte Observer.
He was the chief apostle of Pentecostal House of Praise at the time of his death but has been a fixture in radio, TV and prison ministries across North Carolina for decades.
“’What I can do, I do for Christ,” Gaither Danner recalled his brother telling him over the years. “And he done it for God until his last breath.”
Wade Danner is survived by his wife Annie Elizabeth Danner, four daughters, two sons, three sisters, four brothers, 11 grandchildren and a great-grandchild ”on the way,” The Observer reported. A service will be held Saturday at Gate Called Beautiful Jesus Christ.
Panthers in ‘intensive protocol’ for coronavirus
After at least six Carolina Panthers made in-game contact with a player on the COVID-19 reserve list, the team is in the NFL’s “intensive protocol” for the coronavirus.
On Sunday, the Panthers players had contact with Marlon Davidson, a defensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons. Davidson and others placed on reserve/COVID-19 have either tested positive for the virus or been in direct contact with an infected person.
After an outbreak within the Tennessee Titans, the NFL adopted new protocols, including “that anyone with ‘high risk’ close contact exposure to a COVID-19 positive individual must be isolated for at least five days, even if the person is negative and remains asymptomatic,” The Charlotte Observer reported Wednesday.
Panthers players are required to wear face shields or masks on practice fields.
“The team may have in-person meetings, but they cannot be in a room smaller than the full-team room in the facility,” the Observer reported. “The only other player activity allowed in the building this week is for rehab and medical reasons.”
COVID-19 cluster suspends UNC Charlotte basketball
UNC Charlotte is suspending men’s basketball activities after its athletics department announced a coronavirus cluster.
The school, which reported seven COVID-19 infections among players and staff members, said basketball practices won’t resume until all others are cleared through testing. The cases were found through contact tracing and testing, according to the 49ers.
“The individuals are in isolation with proper medical care, and the University’s contact tracing team is currently notifying any affected members of the UNC Charlotte community to begin quarantine protocols,” officials said in a news release.
The announcement comes as basketball players on Wednesday were set to start practices, “although the team had been holding workouts since early September,” The Charlotte Observer reported.
Brewery defends festival as it’s tied to more COVID-19 cases
A Charlotte brewery defended a beer event that has been linked to at least five coronavirus infections.
“Our restaurant and Biergarten remains a safe, relaxing place,” John Marrino, founder of Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, said Tuesday in an online post. “Our main concern is that this ‘snapshot’ of a three-day event that was virtually perfect at all other times, has distorted people’s perceptions of the overall event and our brewery.”
Marrino said most people followed health guidelines, though some ignored social distancing and face covering requirements, The Charlotte Observer reported.
His message came a week after Gibbie Harris, Mecklenburg County public health director, said coronavirus cases were tied to the brewery’s Mecktoberfest. The festival drew thousands of people from Sept. 25-27.
After the county urged event attendees to get tested, the brewery helped offer drive-thru testing over the weekend.
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 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 of North Carolina is joining in-person hearings for the nominee to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
The move comes after Tillis announced earlier this month that he contracted COVID-19. The Republican 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 going 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.
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 7:17 AM.
