COVID vaccine live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on March 21
We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus and vaccines in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Case count surpasses 895,000
At least 895,263 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 11,820 have died since last March, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported 2,034 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, up from 1,915 reported on Friday.
Fifteen additional deaths were reported Saturday. Deaths don’t all occur on the day the state reports them, and the state health department revises its daily figures as information becomes available.
At least 964 people in North Carolina were reported hospitalized with the coronavirus as of Saturday, down from 970 on Friday.
As of Thursday, the latest date for which data are available, 4.9% of coronavirus tests were reported positive. Health officials have said 5% or lower is the target rate to control the spread of the virus.
More than 3.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in North Carolina, and more than 1.4 million people in the state have been fully vaccinated as of Thursday.
The state health department’s COVID-19 dashboard was not updated Sunday. New numbers are posted Monday-Saturday, the website says.
Johnston County hosting vaccine clinic
The Johnston County Health Department is holding a mass drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination clinic Wednesday at North Johnston High School.
The 2,000 vaccines will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis to people in groups 1 through 4 starting at 8 a.m. and running until providers have run out of doses. Only the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine will be offered.
Attendees should enter at the back entrance of the high school campus on Watson Road near the athletic fields.
Johnston County has asked those planning to attend the clinic to bring a filled-out pre-vaccination form that can be found online at johnstonnc.com/covid19/files/Prevaccination_Covid_Reg_Form.pdf.
Cases on the rise in the Triangle
Triangle counties saw more COVID-19 cases and higher positivity rates over the past week.
In Wake County, the state health department reported 1,530 new cases of the coronavirus in the past week, up from the 1,109 new cases that were reported during the week before. As of Thursday, an average of 4.7% of tests were returning positive over a 14-day period, up from 4.5% of tests that were returning positive the week before.
Durham County saw 449 new cases during the past week, up from 306 reported during the week before. An average of 4.6% of tests were returning positive as of Thursday, up from the 3.5% of tests that were returning positive last week.
Eighty-three new cases were reported in Orange County over the same period. The week before, the county reported no new cases and instead had five cases removed from its total. An average of 0.7% of tests were returning positive in Orange last week, slightly higher than the 0.6% of tests returning positive the week prior.
Wake and Orange counties had previously seen more than a month of consistently lower case counts each week. Meanwhile, cases in Durham increased for the second week in a row.
Duke relaxes stay-in-place order
Duke University will relax its stay-in-place order Sunday morning — one week after instituting it following a surge in COVID-19 cases among undergraduate students.
Duke said it recorded 231 positive COVID-19 cases, including 211 among undergraduates, during the week of March 8-14. It tied the spike in cases to fraternities violating protocols by holding in-person rush events.
A letter distributed to students Sunday said the restrictions helped slow the spread of the coronavirus enough to resume in-person classes. Under the orders, students were required to stay in their residence other than to get food, exercise or a COVID-19 test.
By 9 a.m. Sunday, most of those restrictions had been relaxed.
“Last week, we asked all Duke undergraduates to stay-in-place for one week in order to stop the spread of COVID as quickly as possible,” the letter said. “THANK YOU for cooperating with our public health measures this week. The good news is that we’ve seen a decline in the number of undergraduate students testing positive for COVID.”
Trump supporters protest COVID-19 restrictions
More than 100 supporters of former President Donald Trump gathered Saturday in downtown Raleigh to protest the state’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Some were dressed in Proud Boys clothing. Others waved a flag with the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon logo.
Many who spoke at the event demanded the Gov. Roy Cooper lift the mask mandate.
The state health department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said masks are essential to slowing the spread of COVID-19, which has killed over half a million Americans.
One protesters also spoke against the coronavirus vaccines.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been shown in clinical tests to have an efficacy of over 90% against COVID-19.
Durham VA opens vaccinations to enrolled veterans
Veterans enrolled with the Durham VA Health Care System are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine through the federal program, officials say.
“We are very grateful to be able to offer COVID-19 vaccines, which are very safe and effective, to all enrolled veterans,” Dr. Genevieve Embree, a VA primary care physician, told The News & Observer.
The Durham VA Health Care System covers 27 counties, ranging from Durham to the coast. It has clinics in Raleigh, Greenville and Morehead City. The system has administered more than 39,000 vaccines so far and has vaccinated more than 20,000 veterans, Embree told The N&O.
Anyone eligible for VA health care can enroll to become eligible for a vaccine through its program, Embree said. A veteran must have served 24 continuous months in the armed forces or a full period of active duty to enroll.
To make an appointment, veterans can call the VA at 919-286-0411 and press “0” to speak with an operator.
Clusters reported at Wake County schools
New COVID-19 clusters have been reported at a public school and a charter school in Wake County.
Casa Esperanza Montessori School, a K-8 charter school in Raleigh, reported 10 COVID cases, including eight students and two staff members, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Zebulon Elementary School had five cases, including four students and one school employee.
The state health department defines a “cluster” as five or more linked cases in the same facility within 14 days.
Zebulon Elementary families and employees were told that health officials had recommended that all students and staff in the affected classes quarantine for 14 days. Those students and families were notified and will participate in remote learning until they’re allowed to return to school.
Casa Esperanza switched to remote learning last week due to the COVID outbreak affecting multiple classrooms, according to a school document. Students returned to campus for in-person classes on Monday.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools to start in-person classes Monday
Chapel Hill-Carrboro students will start a hybrid Plan B with both in-person and virtual classes on Monday after the school board unanimously voted to approve the new schedule Thursday.
“We fully appreciate — every one of the board members here — that it is challenging for families who are sending kids back to have Wednesdays (remote),” board member Mary Ann Wolf said.
But she and others said the services the district will be able to provide are “so important” for remote learners, as well as those attending in person who may need additional support.
Elementary students, students with specialized education plans, and children of district staff in grades preK-8 will start four days of in-person learning after spring break ends on April 5. But families who don’t want to send their students to school can keep them in virtual classes, The News & Observer reported.
Middle and high school students will start Plan B on Monday with two days a week of in-person classes.
This comes as at least 40 of North Carolina’s 115 school districts voted in the last week to switch middle and high school students to Plan A with daily in-person instruction.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Earnest Winston is expected to recommend looser COVID-19 restrictions for middle and high school students at this week’s board meeting, district officials said Friday. Those recommendations will likely include a push for older students to move to Plan A with daily in-person instruction and minimal social distancing.
The changes have occurred as the CDC issued new guidelines Friday allowing K-12 students to sit just 3 feet apart instead of the previously recommended 6 feet.
But Tamika Walker Kelly, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, said they need more details as to why the guidelines were changed.
“We are concerned that the CDC has changed one of the basic rules for how to ensure school safety without demonstrating certainty that the change is justified by the science and can be implemented in a manner that does not detract from the larger long-term needs of students,” Kelly said in a statement.
This story was originally published March 21, 2021 at 10:11 AM.
