There’s no question COVID-19 stories dominated our lives in 2021 again. WFAE health reporter Claire Donnelly found new twists and innovative looks at aspects of the pandemic, while WFAE’s Dana Miller Ervin took long, hard looks at policy and America’s health care system.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) On a regular March day, you can find students in all the normal nooks of campus at UNC-Chapel Hill. But now there are considerably fewer of them here than normal. It s very eerie to see campus so empty, said sophomore Sage Staley. I miss that vibrant energy we have here as a community.
Sage is one of the lucky few to be living on campus now. She stayed home in Charlotte last semester like a lot of students at universities across the state. The fall semester was rocky, she said. Nobody really knew how to handle the pandemic, how to handle in-person during this pandemic.
Robin Featherstone s emotions make all the sense in the world. The Durham mother successfully recovered after a month-long battle with COVID-19. It s important to live life to the fullest, she said. This year was unlike any other. I think we ve learned to never ask: Can it get any worse?
Featherstone, the director of student activities and leadership at Shaw University, contracted the virus last March. I thank God every day that I m here and sometimes when I m by myself I get a little emotional, Robin said behind tears. To this day, she stills deals with aches and pains from time to time.
Of all the first doses we ve given, 55% were from Black and African American population and 22% were from our 27610 ZIP code. And that s what we were challenged with vaccinating, said Michelle Davis, vaccine coordinator at Advance.
At the same time, Friday evening, a panel of FDA advisors, doctors and scientists were voting unanimously to recommend There is a shortage of vaccines currently authorized. And I think authorization will help meet the needs of the moment, said advisory panel member Dr. Archana Chatterjee in her explanation of her vote to endorse the vaccine.
Checking in on vaccination efforts in southeast Raleigh’s hard-hit 27610 ZIP code and the latest on FDA authorization of the Johnson and Johnson one-shot COVID vaccine • TONIGHT • #abc11pic.twitter.com/XVcE2VQaRE Joel Brown (@JoelBrownABC11) February 27, 2021