COVID vaccine live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Feb. 12
We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus and vaccines in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Case count tops 814,000
At least 814,594 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 10,376 have died since March, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday reported 4,128 new COVID-19 cases, down from 4,568 the day before.
At least 82 additional deaths were added to the total Thursday. Deaths don’t occur on the day the state reports them. The state health department revises its daily figures as information becomes available.
At least 2,151 people in North Carolina were reported hospitalized with the coronavirus as of Friday, down from 2,185 the day before. Friday’s daily count was the lowest reported since Dec. 3.
As of Wednesday, the latest day for which data are available, 6.5% of coronavirus tests were reported positive. Health officials say the percentage should be about 5% or lower to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The state reports more than 1.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.
Small-town NC residents get vaccine quickly
Harnett Health System in Dunn, North Carolina, was able to vaccinate 1,500 people on Thursday — more than the 1,000 shots Wake County is aiming to give at Raleigh’s PNC Center.
The Harnett operation runs with 40 nursing students and volunteers in a parking lot with 100 parking spaces, The News & Observer reported. Dunn Police directed traffic, allowing patients to move through the line within 30 minutes.
Harnett Health has now vaccinated more than 10,000 people, Kelly Honeycutt, director of administrative operations, told The N&O.
At the end of the day, there’s rarely any leftover for “vaccine chasers” coming from other parts of the state.
“We don’t normally have a lot of excess,” Honeycutt said. “We have a waiting list with 100 people, and we call at the end of the day. I think it speaks a lot for our personnel, doing 1,500 a day.”
Wake draws up plans for teacher vaccination
Wake County Schools is working on a plan to vaccinate its teachers and staff as students prepare to return next week.
There are 10,700 teachers in the system and thousands of other employees who will be eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine this month, The News & observer reported. Just 614 employees were already eligible under the existing guidelines for individuals 65 and older.
“We have like a vaccine team at the leadership level at the district that is working with county health officials to make sure that we understand how to best accomplish this, whether it is school sites, an educator day or special locations or times,” Wake Superintendent Cathy Moore said at a news conference Friday at Wakefield High School in Raleigh.
The district is considering giving teachers the shots at school during the school day to keep them from missing class.
Moore also said vaccinations will not be mandatory for teachers.
UNC players won’t be suspended for maskless gathering
UNC men’s basketball coach Roy Williams said players seen gathering without masks were disciplined but not suspended.
“It was not a free-standing party at some fraternity house or in the middle of Franklin Street,” Williams said. “And I’ve handled it what I think is very appropriately.”
A video showed maskless players after a win over Duke last weekend, leading to the postponement of Monday’s scheduled game against the Miami Hurricanes.
Williams said “full personnel” will be available when his team plays Virginia on Saturday.
Vaccine hotline flooded with calls
A public health hotline and website have been swamped with people wanting to make appointments for COVID-19 vaccines in the Charlotte area.
Mecklenburg County is having technology issues after it opened a sign-up period for additional vaccine slots on Friday morning.
Now, some hotline callers are asked to leave voicemail messages, and the website is “moving slower than usual due to the high volume of traffic,” Mecklenburg County spokesperson Rebecca Carter said in a statement.
In January, the vaccine rollout was slowed down when several people called to try getting the county’s first appointment slots, The Charlotte Observer reported.
South African variant reported in NC
A strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 was reported in North Carolina for the first time on Thursday.
The B.1.351 variant, originally discovered in South Africa in October, was found in a coronavirus patient who hadn’t recently traveled, The News & Observer reported. The sample was taken from an adult in central North Carolina, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The strain is believed to be more contagious than others spreading in the U.S.
“While we anticipated the arrival the B.1.351 variant in NC, it’s a reminder that the fight against COVID-19 is not over,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of DHHS.
Since January, the state has had at least 21 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, according to the CDC. The strains
Some are skipping the line for COVID-19 vaccine
Speed and equity are at odds in North Carolina’s vaccine rollout as some clinics dole out doses to individuals who don’t qualify under state health department guidelines, the N.C. Watchdog Reporting Network found.
At least a dozen people under age 65 were vaccinated in Ashe County after staff at AppHealthCare took doses out of the office. A spokesperson initially said the vaccine doses were taken in an effort to prevent leftover doses from being wasted at the end of the day.
But a week later, she told the reporting network the local health department’s investigation determined 40 doses of the vaccine outside of agency protocols and another 13 were administered outside of groups 1 and 2.
In New Hanover County, county commissioners were given the vaccine after a meeting in January. Two UNC-Chapel Hill basketball coaches also received it, and Atrium Health in Charlotte scheduled some appointments for non-health care workers.
“Going out of a priority order should be a very unusual circumstance. It should not be the thing that is happening each and every time,” DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said. “But we do not want vaccine wasted, so we recognize that there are some places where we want to just make sure that we get vaccine into arms and are not wasting it.”
Charlotte airport reports drastic drop-off in passenger traffic
Passenger traffic fell by almost half at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The airport reported 27.2 million passengers last year, a 46% decline from the 50.2 million passengers in 2019, The Charlotte Observer reported. The total number of passengers in 2019 was a record high.
Charlotte Douglas has only reported a decline in passenger traffic three times in the last 20 years, and the last time its numbers were this low was 15 years ago.
“By far, it’s definitely not where we want to be,” Acting Aviation Director and CEO Haley Gentry said in a statement. “But we are faring much better than many of our counterparts who have seen passenger reductions between 60 to 70 percent.”
More students in Durham are failing during the pandemic
Close to half of secondary students in Durham Public Schools failed at least one class during the first three months of the school year when campuses were closed and students were required to take online classes.
The school district has been remote since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March.
“About 55.5% of middle school and 42.8% of high school students got an ‘F’ in one class or more during the first quarter,” The News & Observer reported, citing a public information request for the data. “That was up from 31.5% of middle school and 29.7% of high school students during the same period in 2019.”
The data also showed more students receiving failing grades and missing school during the pandemic than they did the previous year.
“The data is concerning,” school board member Natalie Beyer said. “It shows what everyone fears. That students, like everyone, are struggling during this pandemic.”
Wake launches mass vaccination event at PNC Arena
Wake County’s first mass vaccination drive-thru location opened at PNC Arena on Thursday, and a second event is planned for Saturday.
The county is hosting the event in conjunction with Centennial Authority, WakeMed, Duke Health and UNC REX. Vaccinations are by appointment only. Organizers plan to vaccinate more than 2,100 people over both days, The News & Observer reported.
The Wake County Health Department is able to vaccinate about 1,000 people at PNC Arena, another 800 at existing vaccination sites and up to 100 people with teams sent into neighborhoods, said Dr. Jason Wittes, the county’s pharmacy director.
“It’s pretty remarkable that today we’ll be vaccinating close to 1,900 people in a single day,” he told The N&O. “And it’s a mass vaccination thing, but it’s not a high capacity event, it’s not a thing like that, it’s just normal business here in Wake County.”
Bill that would require in-person classes passes House
The North Carolina House passed a bill that calls for requiring all K-12 public schools in the state to offer in-person learning.
Though the bill passed in the Senate, another vote is needed due to changes the House made. Then, the bill would go to Gov. Roy Cooper, The News & Observer reported Thursday.
The House voted 77-44 for the proposal, which also calls for students with special needs to have a daily face-to-face learning option.
New data show disparities with vaccines
The rate at which Black and Hispanic residents are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine shows a disparity across North Carolina, new data show.
The groups are underrepresented among the people getting vaccinated so far, according to an analysis published Thursday by The Charlotte Observer.
Experts have said some causes could be a lack of transportation, hesitancy about getting vaccines and a potentially higher rate of white people among those now eligible to get doses.
Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday said 18% of people vaccinated in North Carolina last week were Black, an increase from 11% three weeks earlier.
“This is an improvement, but there is more work to be done when North Carolina’s population is 22% Black,” Cooper said. “We’re working to address those inequities. We can start by making sure every community has access to these vaccines.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 7:11 AM.
