Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Dec. 6
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We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Daily cases hit record
At least 394,990 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 5,543 have died, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday reported 6,438 new COVID-19 cases, surpassing the previous daily record of 6,018 cases reported the day before. Saturday marked the first time daily cases had exceeded 6,000.
Twenty-seven additional deaths were reported Sunday.
A record 2,191 people in North Carolina were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday.
About 10.4% of tests were reported positive as of Friday, the latest date for which data are available. That’s above the 5% target set by health officials.
Vaccine plan
Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state health department, gave an update on North Carolina’s vaccine distribution plan Sunday on CNN.
North Carolina expects to receive 85,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which Cohen said will be enough to vaccinate workers at 50 to 60 hospitals statewide, during the first week of distribution.
Medical workers who are around COVID-19 patients will be prioritized, Cohen said.
“We know the first week, it’ll just go to our hospitals,” Cohen said on CNN. “By the second week we hope to have both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine, and that is when we think we’ll be able to get to both our hospitals and our long term care settings.”
Vaccines in long-term care facilities will be administered through the federal government’s partnership with CVS and Walgreens, meaning North Carolina will focus primarily on vaccinating medical workers.
Health officials consider further action
With COVID-19 cases surging in North Carolina, state health officials are weighing additional steps to control the spread of the virus.
“In less than a week, we went from exceeding 5,000 new cases reported in one day to exceeding 6,000,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, health department secretary, said in a statement released Saturday. “This is very worrisome.”
She said health officials are looking at “what further actions we can take” to protect North Carolinians.
“I am asking each North Carolinian to take personal responsibility for their actions and slowing the spread of this virus,” she said in the statement. “Always wear a mask when with people you don’t live with, keep your distance from other people and wash your hands often.”
The state has gone from never reaching 3,000 new daily cases to topping the 6,000-case mark in less than a month.
Hundreds attend Christmas parade despite warnings
Hundreds gathered for a Christmas parade Saturday in Youngsville as the town refused to cancel the event despite strong urging from the Franklin County Health Department and despite Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive orders.
It’s the only Triangle town and one of the few in the state to break with health officials’ recommendations.
Signs posted along the parade route encouraged masks and social distancing. But about half of attendees and about half of those in the parade wore masks, The News & Observer reports. Some kept “tight family clusters” but “just as many did not.”
“I’m taking the risk,” Lindsey Newton, a pre-K teacher who lives along the parade route and who wore a mask, told The N&O. “It’s tradition. If I could go to every person and say ‘Put your mask on,’ I’d probably get hit in the face. All I can say is the Good Lord’s in control.”
Multiple Charlotte businesses temporarily close
Common Market South End and Town Brewing Co. in Charlotte temporarily closed on Sunday, joining three other businesses that closed on Friday after employees tested positive for the coronavirus.
The market plans to reopen at 8 a.m. Tuesday after the store is professionally cleaned and staff members are tested for the virus, it says. The brewery did not announce a reopening date but said it will be closed for cleaning and that staff will be tested for the virus.
This comes after The Gin Mill South End on South Tryon Street closed temporarily after two employees tested positive, management posted on Facebook.
A worker at Thomas Street Tavern also tested positive on Friday, prompting the establishment to close until all employees can be tested and the site thoroughly cleaned, management posted on social media Saturday.
And The Workman’s Friend on Central Avenue in Plaza Midwood closed after one employee tested positive, the Irish restaurant and pub posted on Facebook.
From restaurants to breweries, many other Charlotte gathering spots have closed temporarily at times during the pandemic after employees tested positive for the disease.
On Thursday, Olde Mecklenburg Brewery on Yancey Road in Charlotte temporarily closed its restaurant after an employee reported testing positive for COVID-19.
Labor Department won’t issue coronavirus safety rules
The N.C. Department of Labor won’t institute safety regulations to protect workers from COVID-19, Commissioner Cherie Berry said in a letter sent to advocacy groups on Nov. 9.
She said taking such action would be outside her departmental authority.
“While I am not dismissing the tragic deaths that have occurred as a result of this virus, statistically, the virus has not been proven likely to cause death or serious physical harm from the perspective of an occupational hazard,” Berry wrote in the letter.
Worker advocates told The N&O that Berry has a record of taking the “deregulatory approach” during her five consecutive terms as commissioner.
“She’s essentially saying, ‘I’m abandoning my mission to protect workers because I’m buying into myths and lies that COVID-19 is not serious and we really don’t know that much about it.’ And that’s just not true,” Debbie Berkowitz, director of the Worker Safety and Health program at the National Employment Law Project and former chief of staff at the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, told The N&O. “This is really a dereliction of duty.”
Berry will retire in January. Josh Dobson, who like Berry is a Republican, will replace her.
Cooper said Thursday he hopes the Labor Department will “be more proactive under Dobson.”
“We’ve provided a lot of guidance to businesses on how to protect their employees and their customers. And many North Carolina businesses have followed that guidance and even have done more, but there are always some that don’t,” he said while touring a PPE manufacturing plant in Pittsboro. “I look forward to talking with incoming Commissioner Dobson about things that we might be able to do.”
This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 10:01 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Dec. 6."
