11:45 am
Friday’s NCDHHS report included 1,915 newly reported COVID-19 cases. 970 people are currently hospitalized; 25 less than yesterday.
The daily rate of positive percentage was 4.0%.
Another 22 deaths were reported today. Unfortunately, 11,805 people have died since the pandemic began.
10:45 am
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have made this official: schools are now asked to allow a 3-foot gap between students and staff in primary schools.
The guidance comes after a study found no detectable difference in COVID-19 infection rates among young children who wore masks properly and 1 to 2 meters apart.
The recommendation holds true even in communities where transmission of COVID-19 is high, according to a statement from the CDC released Friday. Elementary and secondary schools in high-transmission communities are still 6 feet away from each other.
5:40 am
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may announce a change in their COVID-19 school orientation.
The agency is considering reducing the recommended space between students of 6 to 3 feet. This decision may come as early as Friday.
New evidence that it may be safe for schools to accommodate students a meter away – half the distance previously recommended – could offer a way to return more children in the country to classrooms with limited space.
Even with more teachers receiving vaccines against COVID-19, the social distance guidelines remained a major obstacle for districts in the United States. risk to them or teachers.
Published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, the survey looked at schools in Massachusetts, which supported the 3-foot guideline for months. Illinois and Indiana are also allowing a distance of 3 feet, and other states, like Oregon, are considering doing the same.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also exploring the idea. The agency’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said the 6-foot guideline is “among the biggest challenges” that schools faced in the reopening.
The CDC included the largest spacing in its most recent school guidelines, issued in February and concluded that schools can operate safely during the pandemic with masks, distance and other care. He suggested 6 feet and said that physical distance “should be maximized as much as possible.”
Other organizations have issued more relaxed guidelines, including the World Health Organization, which recommends 1 meter in schools. The American Academy of Pediatrics tells space tables “a distance of 3 feet and preferably 6 feet away.”
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Vaccine appointments will be back on track on Friday, after being postponed on Thursday due to the threat of bad weather.
Wake County inoculation sites are increasing their capacity today to make room for the people who were supposed to be vaccinated yesterday.
If you had an appointment on Thursday, it will happen at the same time and place on Friday. If you had an appointment on Friday, nothing has changed.
This means that Wake County sites will need to distribute twice as many vaccines today.
The COVID-19 test was also canceled on Thursday, but normal testing hours are resumed on Friday.
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17:24
Governor Cooper will see vaccines on Friday at the Vidant / Pitt Large-Scale Vaccine Clinic in Greenville, his office announced.
4 pm
With the United States approaching President Joe Biden’s goal of injecting 100 million coronavirus vaccines weeks ahead of schedule, officials say the country is now in a position to help deliver vaccines to neighboring Canada and Mexico.
The Biden government announced the outlines of a vaccine “loan” plan for Canada and Mexico, while the president announced that the United States was about to inject Americans with 100 million doses – well ahead of its goal of achieving benchmark in the first 100 days in office.
Biden announced that the United States will reach 100 million on Friday – the 58th day of his government.
15:00
The United States is finalizing plans to ship 4 million combined doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico and Canada on their first export of vaccines.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden government is planning to send 2.5 million doses to Mexico and 1.5 million to Canada as a “loan”.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was not authorized for use in the United States, but it was authorized by the World Health Organization. Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford thanked Biden for his willingness to share the vaccines.
Canadian regulators have approved the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, but acquiring them has proved difficult. Canada is in 20th place in the number of doses administered, with about 8% of the adult population receiving at least one injection. This compares to around 38% in the UK and 22% in the USA
Mexico totally vaccinated more than 600,000 people and more than 4 million received a single dose in a country of 126 million.
12h08
The Halifax County Department of Health reports seven new cases for a total of 5,084 positive COVID 19 cases. There were 102 deaths – 2.0% of the total cases.
Halifax County is also giving COVID-19 vaccines until 4:30 pm at the Griffin Center on the campus of Halifax Community College 200 College Drive in Weldon.
Vaccination is available to anyone aged 18 and over, without consultation. Arrive at the end of the hour or half and half.
12:00
Thursday’s NCDHHS report included 2,004 newly reported COVID-19 cases. 995 people were hospitalized; 7 people less than yesterday.
The daily rate of positive percentage was 3.9%.
Unfortunately, 11,783 people have died since the pandemic began.
11:30 am
CVS Health will begin administering vaccines to eligible people as early as Sunday, March 21, at eight additional CVS Pharmacy locations throughout North Carolina. Schedules for the last dose allocation will begin to become available for reservation on Friday, March 19, as stores receive vaccine shipments.
Patients must register in advance at CVS.com or through the CVS Pharmacy app, and people without online access can contact CVS Customer Service at (800) 746-7287. Vaccination without prior appointment will not be provided.
10 a.m
Walgreens says it is aware of a technical flaw in its programmer, where some patients received appointment confirmation numbers that were not actually added to the pharmacy’s vaccination schedule.
“This problem has now been resolved,” said a spokesman in a statement. “We are committed to honoring the vaccination appointments that have been scheduled in our system and are working with all affected patients to reschedule their appointments. We apologize for the inconvenience”.
9 am
Health experts say the rise in coronavirus cases in Europe should serve as a warning to the United States not to abandon its safeguards too soon.
Optimism is spreading in the US, as virus deaths are plummeting and states are easing restrictions.
But across Europe, stricter restrictions are coming back amid a wave of cases that are affecting some hospitals.
The divergent paths of the pandemic on the two continents may be associated with the most successful launch of vaccines in the United States and a wave of more transmissible variants in Europe. Health experts add that some areas of Europe were also very quick to relax the distance requirements.
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During a news conference on Wednesday, Governor Roy Cooper and DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said they expected all adults in North Carolina to be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine by May 1, online. with a promise made by President Joe Biden earlier this week.
Many North Carolina vaccination and test sites in North Carolina changed schedules on Thursday due to the expected severe weather.
Thursday afternoon at ABC11, Governor Cooper will appear at GMA3: What you need to know. He will talk about the state’s HOPE Program – which helps to cover living expenses and prevent evictions.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment insurance rose to 770,000 last week, a sign that layoffs remain high, even as the US economy is recovering from the coronavirus recession.
Thursday’s Labor Department report showed that unemployment insurance claims rose from 725,000 in the previous week.
The numbers have dropped dramatically since the height of the recession last spring, but still show that employers in some sectors continue to lay off workers. Before the start of the pandemic, claims for unemployment benefits had never reached 700,000 in a week.
The four-week claims average, which smoothes out weekly changes, fell to 746,000, the lowest since late November.
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