All tagged covid 19

Governor Cooper visits UNC Health as frontline health care workers receive COVID-19 vaccine

Today, Governor Roy Cooper and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen witnessed some of the first COVID-19 vaccinations in the country at UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill. UNC Health has begun administering the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine to health care workers who interact with COVID-19 patients. This includes doctors, nurses, custodial staff and more employees who have risked their health to care for patients infected with this virus.

Algenon Cash: COVID-19 may wipe out 75% of North Carolina’s 20,000 restaurants

Small independently owned restaurants are facing an extinction-level event as we move deeper into colder months and the coronavirus spread reaches all-time highs. Without immediate financial aid, over 75% of the state’s 19,504 eating and drinking locations are in danger of closing permanently.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, 17% of restaurants throughout the country (or about 110,000 establishments) have closed either permanently or long-term and 10,000 restaurants have closed over the last three months alone. As for the 10,000 restaurants that have closed over the past three months, the majority had been well-established in the industry for years, and on average, had been in business for 16 years.

Despite the current spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths, there is good news on the not-so-distant horizon. Three effective vaccines are in the pipeline. Some North Carolinians — those battling coronavirus on the frontlines as well as those put at greatest risk by infection — will being vaccinated in the coming weeks.

State auditor says DPI’s COVID mismanagement puts children at risk

The State Auditor released the results of their performance audit at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI). The audit was of Coronavirus Relief Funds allocated to the DPI from the 2020 COVID-19 Recover Act. The objectives were to ensure that Coronavirus Relief Funds were spent in accordance with the 2020 COVID-19 Recovery Act and subsequent amendments as well as that the programs that received Coronavirus Relief Funds accomplished their intended purpose.