COVID vaccine live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on July 13
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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.
Four additional deaths reported
At least 1,019,838 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, and at least 13,503 have died since March 2020, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported 540 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, down from 562 on Monday.
Four additional coronavirus-related deaths were reported on Tuesday. Deaths don’t necessarily occur on the day the state reports them. The state health department revises its daily figures as more information becomes available.
At least 469 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, up from 451 the day before.
As of Sunday, the most recent date available, 5.3% of coronavirus tests were reported positive. Health officials say 5% or lower is the target rate to slow the spread of the virus.
Roughly 59% of adults in North Carolina have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and about 56% have been fully vaccinated. State health officials round vaccination numbers to the nearest whole number.
Cooper could ease mask mandate in schools
Gov. Roy Cooper expects to issue a new recommendation for wearing masks in school after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines last week.
Under the new guidelines, the CDC says only individuals who are not fully vaccinated need to wear masks in schools, The News & Observer reported.
“I want our schools to go back in the fall as normal as possible,” Cooper said in a stop at a vaccination site in a Cabarrus County high school Tuesday.
He said he doesn’t have a timeline for when the new state guidelines will be issued.
Johnston County holds vaccine clinic for kids
Johnston County will hold a COVID-19 vaccination clinic Wednesday for children 12 years and older.
The clinic will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the school cafeteria at Smithfield-Selma High School. The Pfizer vaccine will be the only available vaccine as it’s the only one approved for emergency use in children, The News & Observer reported.
Firefighter survives COVID-19
A 26-year-old volunteer firefighter with the Pinecroft Sedgefield Fire Department spent six weeks in the hospital after he tested positive for the coronavirus in May.
When Corey Spencer woke up from his coma, he told McClatchy News he didn’t know where he was. He was released from the hospital last week and sent to a rehab center.
“I was put through the ringer,” Spencer said. “Just physically and mentally, I’m still trying to process everything that really happened.”
He said he plans to get the COVID-19 vaccine once he’s allowed to return home. His mom told one TV station that her boss got the vaccine because of what happened to Spencer.
Charlotte teen dies from MIS-C
Alyssa Reevey Simons died June 28 after she was diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a condition linked to COVID-19.
Alyssa was a freshman at North Mecklenburg High School, The Charlotte Observer reported. She got COVID-19 with her family in March and was asymptomatic before complaining of back and stomach pain in May. No one in the family was vaccinated, and Alyssa wouldn’t have been eligible to receive the vaccine until her 15th birthday on May 23.
Her mom, Shernett Reevey, told the Observer she’s now received the first shot after what happened to Alyssa.
“Everybody’s just walking around like a pandemic didn’t just happen,” she said. “It’s going to get worse.”
UNC athletic budget not hit as hard by pandemic
UNC’s athletic budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year did not take as big of a hit as school administrators feared in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Athletic director Bubba Cunningham initially projected a loss of more than $30 million in revenue. But according to an open letter from Cunningham and Rams Club executive director John Montgomery, the loss was less than $6 million.
That’s thanks in-part to donations the athletic department received, The News & Observer reported.
Through the Carolina Victory Fund, which was created to offset pandemic-related losses, the school raised $5.2 million, according to the letter. The original goal was $2 million.
Charlotte area reaches vaccine milestone
Mecklenburg County this week hit a new benchmark in the fight against COVID-19.
Fifty percent of residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine to help protect against the virus, The Charlotte Observer reported Monday.
“It’s an exciting milestone,” Dr. David Priest, a Novant Health infectious disease expert, previously said. “It’s not where we want to be yet, but it just is a real tribute to the efforts of health care professionals and community members to get vaccinated.”
Vaccinations could help COVID-19 spread more like a seasonal flu, but herd immunity isn’t likely, according to Priest.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said. “I think we will have COVID in our communities for the foreseeable future, if not forever.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 7:10 AM.
