COVID vaccine live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on May 17
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We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus and vaccines in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases surpass 991,000
At least 991,956 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 12,891 have died since March 2020, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported 688 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, down from 864 on Sunday and 1,066 on Saturday. The state doesn’t publish updated case counts over the weekend.
Twenty-nine additional coronavirus-related deaths were reported Monday. Deaths don’t all occur on the day the state reports them. The state health department revises its daily figures as information becomes available.
At least 904 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus on Friday, the latest day for which data is available.
As of Saturday, 4.7% of coronavirus tests were reported positive. Health officials say 5% or lower is the target rate to slow the spread of the virus.
Roughly 51% of adults in North Carolina have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 46.4% are fully vaccinated, the state health department said.
Cooper says keeping mask mandate for unvaccinated not feasible
Gov. Roy Cooper hosted an outdoor, in-person bill signing Monday in which he answered questions about the COVID-19 pandemic in North Carolina.
Cooper lifted the statewide mask mandate last week following updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He told reporters Monday the CDC’s decision was “rather sudden” but backed by research, The News & Observer reported.
“When the CDC did that, then when you have state governors who are in charge of mandatory enforcement of violations, it makes it difficult to say that everybody should have a mask or that they have some rule under law that only people who are unvaccinated have to wear a mask,” he said. “That just was not feasible.”
He also said unvaccinated people should continue wearing masks and reminded people face coverings are still required at schools, hospitals, prisons, child care centers, homeless shelters and on public transit.
Duke working on vaccine to prevent future coronavirus pandemics
Researchers at Duke University are developing a vaccine that would protect against multiple strains of coronaviruses.
The vaccine was developed at Duke’s Human Vaccine Institute and shows the immune system 24 copies of a specific part of the virus’ spike protein that attaches to the human cells, The News & Observer reported. Another substance then helps create antibodies that attack that part of the virus.
Dr. Kevin Saunders, the Human Vaccine Institute’s director of research, said it’s similar to velcro.
“So if you think of one hook and loop, that’s a pretty weak interaction. But if you can put one hook and loop together multiple times in multiple copies, that becomes a really strong interaction,” Saunders said.
Researchers tested the vaccine on macaque monkeys and found it “provides total protection against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19,” according to The N&O.
Capacity rises at PNC Arena ahead of Canes playoff games
The Carolina Hurricanes can play in front of more fans as the Raleigh team begins competing in the playoffs.
The NHL on Sunday agreed to allow 12,000 people into PNC Arena at Monday night’s game. The total is double the number of spectators the Canes had been planning to welcome before North Carolina officials loosened capacity limits on Friday.
The Canes on Monday are set to play the Nashville Predators, which also are allowed to host 12,000 people.
“That’s what we’ve missed, no doubt about it,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We’ve had some good crowds, but that emotion is what’s been missing in hockey. It’s a big deal.”
Hundreds of NC correctional officers left jobs in 2020
More than 1,700 correctional officers in North Carolina left their jobs as coronavirus infections spread through prisons in 2020.
“That’s a 14% increase from the number of officers who left in 2019 and the biggest jump in more than a decade,” an analysis from the Queens University News Service shows.
While N.C. Department of Public Safety spokesperson John Bull said it’s been a struggle to fill positions during the pandemic, correctional officers were leaving the job even before COVID-19.
“It’s not a North Carolina system issue,” Bull said. “It’s a nationwide prison system issue. Prison systems across the country have a difficult time filling vacant correctional officer positions.”
Most Charlotte neighborhoods see drop in COVID case rates
Coronavirus case rates dropped in almost all neighborhoods in the Charlotte area, the latest data show.
While case rates remained the same in two ZIP codes, none of the neighborhoods saw an increase, according to Mecklenburg County Public Health. Data from the two-week period ending May 12 also show the county’s average is 208 new coronavirus cases for every 100,000 residents.
The highest COVID-19 case concentration was near Beatties Ford Road in west Charlotte, and the lowest was along Providence Road in south Charlotte, The Charlotte Observer reported Monday.
Some aren’t ready to go maskless after Cooper lifts mandate
Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday lifted North Carolina’s mask mandate in many settings.
The change came after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fully vaccinated people could resume activities without wearing a mask or social distancing. In North Carolina, masks will still be required on public transportation, in child care centers, schools, camps, prisons and certain health care settings.
The state health department still recommends that people who have not been vaccinated continue to wear masks, and many businesses still require them.
But some people in the state are continuing to wear masks despite the change.
“I’m going to keep my mask on,” Pat Parker, an attendee at the The Raleigh Market on Saturday, told The News & Observer. “I’m middle age, and I want to make sure I keep healthy.”
Some people at the market were wearing masks even outside while others were walking around without them.
Virginia Hopkins told The N&O she had been vaccinated against COVID-19 and wasn’t wearing a mask at her outdoor booth. But she said she’d continue wearing a mask indoors so people feel more comfortable.
“It’s protecting the people you’re around,” she said of wearing a face covering.
Indian community in NC suffers losses as COVID surges
India has reported more than 24 million COVID-19 cases and more than 260,000 deaths.
It’s second in the world in cases, behind the United States, and third in the world for coronavirus-related deaths, behind the United States and Brazil. About 40 million people out of the country’s more than 1.4 billion had been fully vaccinated as of May 13, according to Harvard University’s tracker.
And a variant of the virus that that spreads more easily and may resist vaccines has also emerged in India.
In the Triangle, people in the Indian community say they they don’t know anyone with family in India who has not been affected, The N&O reports.
Much of Anuja Purohit’s lives in India, but when her aunt’s family tested positive for COVID-19 in New Delhi, their children were living abroad and unable to care for them.
“My aunt had to face the situation alone in sickness,” she said during a candlelight vigil in Cary held by the Carolina Peace Center, the Desai Foundation and Manisha Daas for people in India who have died, according to The N&O.
Nitant Satghare said many of his relatives in India have tested positive for the virus and one died.
“I wish I was back home to hug them, pitch in my part, get them groceries, talk to doctors, get them medicine,” he said, according to The N&O.
This story was originally published May 17, 2021 at 7:24 AM.
