BRUNSWICK COUNTY – The Brunswick County Schools Board of Education is asking Gov. Roy Cooper to move school employees up the vaccine list.
The board passed a resolution Tuesday evening requesting that the governor include public school employees in Group 2, which currently consists of anyone 65 or older.
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“The success and wellbeing of a community begins with adequate educational opportunities,” Vice Chair Steven Barger said in a statement. “We must call on Governor Cooper to elevate the position of school staff on vaccine administration lists. I’m proud of our board for passing this resolution and showing we value our staff and stand with them.”
The number of people who are vaccinated more than doubled over the past week. On Jan. 18, a total of 573,130 doses had been given across N.C. By Jan. 27, that number was up to 1.18 million. (Port City Daily/Courtesy New Hanover County)
SOUTHEASTERN NC Approximately 300 days into the pandemic, North Carolina is continuing to see Covid-19 cases rise as health officials double down on efforts to vaccinate the people most at risk of infection.
As of Saturday morning, North Carolina has reported 752,627 cases and 9,287 deaths. The seven-day rolling average for new cases remained relatively stable – 6,199 on Jan. 18 and 6,168 on Jan. 30.
The percent of test results returning positive has fallen, though, from 10.5% to 8.4%. Health officials previously have considered a positivity rate of less than 5% a goal in slowing the spread of the virus.
Busy signals and overstrained call centers can be commonplace when so many people seek the Covid-19 vaccine. With even more people becoming eligible on the horizon, New Hanover County hopes to expand its options. (Port City Daily/Courtesy of New Hanover County)
SOUTHEASTERN NC Over the past week, North Carolina is reporting Covid-19 cases at 718,812 and 8,695 deaths, with a 10.5% daily positive rate among those being tested. Though the overall numbers continue to rise, the seven-day average for new cases dropped from 8,711 on Jan. 11 to 6,199 on Jan. 18. The death average over seven days also went down, from 91 on Jan. 11 to 71 on Jan. 18.
SOUTHEASTERN NC Over the last seven days across North Carolina, more than 60,000 Covid-19 cases have been reported with more than 500 deaths. Just on Saturday, Jan. 16, the state marked 7,986 cases and 83 deaths.
Though Gov. Roy Cooper in line with the federal government and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations has opened up vaccinations this week to include all people 65 and older, as well as frontline healthcare workers and long-term care facility workers, supply is still trickling in slowly as case numbers rise week by week.
According to the Jan. 13 update on the NC Department of Health and Human Services dashboard, 238,344 North Carolinians have received at least one dose, with 44,271 receiving the series of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine (the vaccines must be given in a series of two shots three or four weeks apart). More people are eagerly awaiting vaccination, but health departments and vaccination partners statewide quickly are fill
North Carolina’s Covid-19 numbers continue to rise, hitting a one-day record-breaker of 11,581 cases reported on Saturday, Jan. 9. (Port City Daily/File)
SOUTHEASTERN NC According to the latest numbers from the state’s Covid-19 dashboard, North Carolina has reached a total of 614,355 Covid-19 cases, with 3,871 people hospitalized and 7,425 deaths. Statewide case counts keep breaking one-day numbers for the second weekend in a row. N.C. Health and Human Services (NCHHS) reported 11,581 on Saturday, Jan. 9, following two days of hitting more than 10,000 cases each day.
New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties also are hitting new highs. All three counties are in the red zone, meaning there is critical viral spread of Covid-19, according to the Covid-19 County Alert System.