Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Dec. 2
Click here for updates for Dec. 3.
We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Daily hospitalizations hit another record
At least 371,594 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 5,366 have died, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday reported 4,199 new COVID-19 cases, up from 2,883 reported the day before.
Eighty-two additional deaths were reported Tuesday.
At least 2,039 people in North Carolina were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Wednesday, the fifth consecutive day of record highs and the second time the state reported more than 2,000 coronavirus patients during the pandemic.
About 11.4% of tests were reported positive as of Monday, the latest day for which data are available. That’s above the 5% target set by health officials.
Families have until Monday to apply for $335 COVID check
Qualified families in North Carolina have until 2 p.m. on Monday to apply for a $335 COVID-19 relief check from the state, thanks to a court order last month extending the deadline to apply.
To apply, families can go to 335forNC.com or call 800-215-5988.
North Carolina’s Extra Credit grant program was signed into law in early September, the Charlotte Observer reported. About 1 million households qualified automatically and have been receiving the checks.
But there are tens of thousands of families in the state who didn’t earn enough in 2019 to file a state tax return, meaning they had to apply for the money. The program initially had an Oct. 15 application deadline, but a lawsuit filed on behalf of nonprofit groups and several low-income residents prompted a Wake County judge to push the deadline back.
But herein lies the glitch: Tens of thousands of families who did not make enough money to file a 2019 state tax return had to apply for the help, which is designed to offset some of the pandemic-related costs of child care and schooling.
More than 10,000 families have since applied under the new deadline, Charlotte lawyer Adam Doerr told the Observer.
Creator of Slim Jim recipe dies from COVID-19 complications
Alonzo T. “Lon” Adams II, a Raleigh food scientist who created Slim Jim, has died from complications of the coronavirus in North Carolina.
The 95-year-old died Saturday in Raleigh, The News & Obsever reported, citing his obituary.
“It feels wrong to say that it’s shocking that someone that old passed away, but it really was shocking,” Andrew Adams, his 29-year-old grandson, told the N&O on Tuesday.
“For someone to have been so healthy before the pandemic, and then just that rapidly be diagnosed and passing away, it was pretty shocking,” he said.
Adams contracted the coronavirus at the assisted living facility where he lives that’s had an outbreak of cases. He tested positive and died about a week later, his grandson told the N&O.
Adams was born in Iowa and served in World War II. He attended school at St. Ambrose College and received a master’s degree from Iowa State University. Adams moved to Raleigh shortly thereafter, where he created the current formula for Slim Jim.
His business card listed him as the “Director of Meat Technology.”
Some UNC faculty call for remote spring semester
Dozens of UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members signed a letter pushing for online classes this spring as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations rise in North Carolina.
“Given current conditions and UNC’s track record, the plans for spring are doomed to repeat too many of the failures of the fall,” the group said in a letter published Wednesday in The Daily Tar Heel.
Faculty members say housing and in-person classes should be open in certain circumstances, The News & Observer reported. Those who work on campus should get hazard pay and personal protective equipment, according to the group.
UNC is offering in-person and online classes starting in January, when it will mandate COVID-19 tests for students and other people returning to campus. The school was among several in the state that transitioned to online learning when cases rose in the fall semester.
Audit criticizes COVID-19 relief spending
An audit was critical of the way North Carolina education officials spent money meant to help students during the coronavirus pandemic.
N.C. Department of Public Instruction didn’t monitor to make sure funds from the federal CARES Act “accomplished exactly what they were meant to be spent for,” according to State Auditor Beth Wood.
The money was meant for student meals and a “summer supplemental learning program,” The News & Observer reported Wednesday.
“We fully stand by how we distributed nutrition funds ...” the education agency said in a statement. “Additional requirements that some would demand would have likely risked that already vulnerable children across NC would have gone hungry. Put another way, when it comes to trying to feed hungry children during a pandemic, DPI did not let the perfect stand in the way of the good.”
After record testing, NC hospitals prepare for case surge
Charlotte-area testing for COVID-19 hit its highest levels in the days before Thanksgiving, officials say.
The interest in getting tests rose as people planned visits with family and friends for the holiday, said Dr. Jennifer Womack, an internist at Tryon Medical Partners.
“We actually had so much demand that we had to stop scheduling patients who just wanted a test before traveling to make space for the sick people,” Womack said. “The demand was just so, so high. We just couldn’t keep it up.”
In Mecklenburg County, nearly 110,000 people were tested in November, up from about 89,700 the month before, The Charlotte Observer reported Wednesday. Recent daily hospitalization and case counts have topped previous highs seen in July.
The testing volume was reported as Triangle-area hospitals are preparing for an expected post-Thanksgiving increase in coronavirus cases. Major medical systems in the region have had employees out of work due to COVID-19.
“We are seeing our employees get sick,” said Dr. Cameron Wolfe, infectious disease specialist at the Duke University School of Medicine. “It’s not typically that they’re getting sick from work. It’s mainly because they do what the rest of us do. They go to the supermarket, and they have to be out.”
NC store asks customers not to wear face coverings
A North Carolina store is asking its patrons to not wear masks as the coronavirus continues its spread in the state.
A new sign at the Wendell General Store reads: “We request that you not wear a face covering, for the safety of our customers and staff. Regardless, we will respect your choice to wear one in these times,” The News & Observer reported Wednesday.
Regina Harmon, owner of the store east of Raleigh, initially said she wouldn’t comment beyond the message on the sign. But in an interview with the N&O after the article published Wednesday, she said the sign has since been removed.
A new sign now reads “Masks not required, exceptions to every rule.”
The posting comes after another that said wearing face coverings inside the business was optional.
“The store’s sign falsely claims that its mask policy is ‘based on the law in North Carolina’” that targeted the Ku Klux Klan and prohibited masks in public, the N&O reported. State lawmakers earlier this year added an exemption to that policy for health purposes.
Executive orders from Gov. Roy Cooper require people to wear masks inside public buildings and requires businesses to refuse to let in customers without face coverings.
NC research finds green tea may be able to slow COVID-19 virus
Components in green tea and other plants may reduce the speed of the virus that causes COVID-19, according to research from a North Carolina scientist.
De-Yu Xie, an N.C. State University professor of plant and microbial biology, found flavonoids and other chemical compounds can attach to enzymes that aid in virus growth, The News & Observer reported Tuesday.
“Plants use these compounds to protect themselves, so it is not surprising that plant leaves and skins contain these beneficial compounds,” he said.
Xie conducted simulations and lab tests and hopes to eventually conduct human trials. He said the compounds found in green tea aren’t meant to replace vaccines or therapies.
Pfizer vaccine headed for North Carolina
The Pfizer brand of the coronavirus vaccine will be distributed in North Carolina and will be free to everyone, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said vaccine distribution could start in January and the limited supply would likely go to individuals with at least two chronic conditions after high-risk health care workers and nursing home residents and staff, The News & Observer reported.
North Carolina previously submitted a draft vaccine distribution plan in October, which includes at least four phases.
Under Phase 1, health care workers at high risk of exposure, EMTs, firefighters, essential workers and long-term care staff and residents would be first to receive a vaccination.
“When it’s my turn to get this vaccine,” Cooper said, “I’ll be ready to roll up my sleeves.”
In the Charlotte area, major hospital systems Atrium Health and Novant Health have requested refrigeration units for storing the vaccines.
Also, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials want employees who come into contact with students to be vaccinated just after people who work in the health care industry. District leaders shared their request in a letter to health officials on the local, state and federal levels, The Charlotte Observer reported Tuesday.
Leaders warn of widening education gap in NC
Education leaders in North Carolina expressed concern Tuesday about fewer students graduating and more being held back because of setbacks brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
“There’s going to be a huge gap in our students’ path through education,” Deputy State Superintendent David Stegall told the General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee. “There are going to be learning gaps that are going to take years to recover from, without a doubt. As a parent, as an educator, it’s obvious.”
Stegall reported about 82% of school districts have reintroduced some in-person learning since COVID-19 closed schools in March.
While 18% have stuck to online learning only, he said all districts are planning on bringing some students back for in-person classes in January, The News & Observer reported.
In the meantime, attendance rates are down, schools are reporting higher failing rates and enrollment in the state’s public schools has dropped off.
NC teacher dies after contracting COVID-19
A North Carolina teacher has died from complications of the coronavirus, officials say.
Cumberland County Schools says the employee was working remotely, and no other staffers were exposed.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the employee’s family, loved ones and school community,” Marvin Connelly Jr., superintendent of the Fayetteville-area district, said in a statement.
Across the state, at least three other school employees have died after getting infected with COVID-19, McClatchy News reported.
Sign about COVID-19 vaccines removed
An expert says a sign displayed in North Carolina could harm public trust about the coronavirus vaccine.
The sign was seen on a bridge over Interstate 40 in Durham and read “COVID-19 vaccine makers are exempt from liability.”
“It creates this whole concept of vaccine hesitancy and ‘Don’t trust the scientists,’” said Thomas Denney, chief operating officer of the Human Vaccine Institute at Duke University. “I think it’s horrible.”
Information on the sign is “technically correct,” The News & Observer reported.
“The development and manufacture of vaccines are deemed a public health necessity, and there’s been other mechanisms that would provide some sort of compensation for serious side effects,” Denney said.
The sign was taken down by an unknown person before city employees were set to take it down Monday morning.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 7:05 AM.
