RALEIGH, N.C. — Here are the latest updates on the coronavirus from North Carolina and across the globe showing the pandemic’s impact on health, jobs, schools and more:
At least 19,220 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, at least 689 people have died and another 510 or so remain in the hospital. More than 11,600 have reportedly recovered from COVID-19, the illness associated with the virus.
Latest updates
11:20 p.m.: President Trump is threatening to stop all funding to the World Health Organization permanently. In a signed letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom posted on President Trump's Twitter page, the president said that "if the World Health Organization does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days", he will make his temporary freeze of the United States' funding to WHO permanent and "reconsider" the United States' membership in WHO.
9:30 p.m.: The NC Department of Transportation has implemented a staged furlough plan that started Saturday and lasts through June. All 9,300 NCDOT employees will be furloughed at some point. According to spokesperson Steve Abbot, "While the full impact of revenue loss will not be verified until after this pandemic has passed, current indicators point to a $300 million loss in NCDOT revenues through June 30, 2020."
8:45 p.m.: Durham County has passed the 1,000 mark for coronavirus infections. It's 44 new cases Monday – part of its total of 1,040 – include seven more at Treyburn Rehabilitation Center.
7:25 p.m.: The proposed budgets for Wake County and Durham County reflect the impact of the pandemic. Sales tax and other sources of revenue have plunged in recent weeks, prompting cuts in both counties.
Wake County plans to cut more than 100 positions, including 48 in the sheriff's office and 32 in county libraries. The county also is holding the line on funding to local schools.
Durham County is pulling $7.2 million from its fund balance to help cover pandemic-related expenses and won't provide city employees with a raise this year.
Neither county is proposing a property tax increase amid the down economy.
6:20 p.m.: Cumberland County officials reported two more coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the county total to 13.
6 p.m.: Coronavirus has killed three more residents of Universal Healthcare Lillington, bringing the total number of virus-related deaths at the nursing home to 14.
Harnett County has 20 virus-related deaths overall.
5:25 p.m.: Roxboro officials insist the pandemic will not cancel July 4th fireworks. The City Council has approved a contract to move forward with the celebrations.
Officials said the town doesn't have a designated area for watching the fireworks, so people can spread out and practice social distancing. The stadium at Person High School might have to remain closed so people can't gather there, officials said.
5:15 p.m.: Gas prices in North Carolina are on the rise again as more businesses reopen and social activities resume during the pandemic, according to AAA Carolinas. The average price for a gallon of unleaded was $1.71 last week, up 4 cents but still down 92 cents from a year ago.
4:55 p.m.: The Southern Women's Show in Raleigh, which had been pushed back from mid-April to June 19-21, has now been canceled because of the ongoing pandemic.
"With a full house of exhibitors who have planned on, and worked towards the show this year, and considering the great deal of time and expense already invested in the show on our part, canceling is not an easy thing to do. It is, however, for your and everyone's planning purposes, and for the health and safety of all, the right thing to do," organizers Katie Cronin and Courtney Jackson said in a statement.
4:50 p.m.: President Donald Trump is dismissing safety concerns over hydroxychloroquine and has been taking the malaria drug for the past week and a half to protect himself against the coronavirus, according to The Washington Post.
"I think it's good. I've heard a lot of good stories," Trump said. "And if it's not good, I'll tell you right. I'm not going to get hurt by it."
4:45 p.m.: The American Red Cross is launching a Virtual Family Assistance Center to support families struggling with loss and grief due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
People can visit www.redcross.org/get-help to access a support hub with special virtual programs, information, referrals and services to support families in need. The hub will also connect people to other community resources provided by American Red Cross and its partners. People without internet access can call 833-492-0094 toll-free for help.
4:40 p.m.: Coronavirus has led to clean-home technology replacing smart-home technology as the trendy must-have for homeowners. Germ-fighting ultraviolet light robots, including disinfecting ventilation fans, are in demand from high-end homeowners.
4:35 p.m.: Israeli inventors have developed a coronavirus mask that lets people eat without taking it off, making it less risky to visit a restuarant. Squeezing a lever opens a slot in the front of the mask so food can pass through.
The company said it has applied for a patent and plans to start manufacturing the mask within months.
4:15 p.m.: Target has become the first major retailer to extend "hero pay" to its hourly employees. In an email to workers Monday, CEO Brian Cornell said the company would extend benefits, including its $2-per-hour wage increase, through July 4.
The increase was implemented on March 20 to all store and distribution center hourly employees. Many other retailers have let their temporary wage hikes expire.
4:10 p.m.: Publix is no longer offering special shopping hours for seniors. The company's supermarkets are now open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and officials said seniors and anyone else considered at high risk from coronavirus can shop during the first hour after opening, when the store is freshly sanitized and stocked.
4 p.m.: Investors seized on promising results from an early stage coronavirus vaccine trial, the Federal Reserve opening the door to more stimulus efforts and more states restarting their economies to power Wall Street to across-the-board gains. The Dow Jones average jumped by more than 900 points. The S&P 500 index rose by 3.2 percent.
3:55 p.m.: Avery County in the North Carolina mountains has become the last of the state's 100 counties to report a coronavirus case, according to NBC affiliate WCNC.
3:35 p.m.: After five weeks with Tuesday protests to demand that Gov. Roy Cooper lift his stay-at-home order restrictions that have closed thousands of businesses statewide since late March, ReOpenNC won't hold a protest this week as it plans for "a much bigger event that will occur statewide next week," a spokesman said.
3:30 p.m.: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has relaxed some criteria for resuming business and social activities during the pandemic and now says most of the state may be able to reopen more quickly, according to The Associated Press.
3:25 p.m.: Wake County commissioners are divvying up the $194 million in emergency funds from the CARES Act the county has available:
- $65.5 million will go to public heath and emergency response for containment and mitigation of the pandemic.
- $34.4 million will go to housing, food, behavioral health, utility assistance and other needs created by the crisis.
- $30.8 million will go to modifying facilities to ensure social distancing, protective gear and other needs to ensure continuity of county operations.
- $24.7 million will go to economic recovery, such as small-business support, workforce development and tourism.
Another $3.8. million would go to miscellaneous expenses, including possibly to help offset $45 million the county has lost in sales taxes and development fees.
"Wake County is facing many of the same challenges that communities across the nation and around the globe are facing as a result of COVID-19,” Board of Commissioners Chairman Greg Ford said in a statement. “We are grateful to see these funds come back to our local taxpayers from the federal government, and we have a plans in place to use these resources to support our residents moving forward."
The county has spent $13.1 million so far on responding to the pandemic.
2:55 p.m.: The state Division of Employment Security has handled more claims for unemployment during the last 64 days than during the past six years combined, DES director Lockhart Taylor told lawmakers.
2:20 p.m.: Gov. Roy Cooper called reports that people are holding parties to try to infect each other with coronavirus to achieve herd immunity "completely irresponsible and absolutely unacceptable."
"If you do that, you can easily kill someone you love," he said.
2:10 p.m.: More than 1,700 Wake Technical Community College graduates will turn their tassels from the comfort of their homes this summer. Instead of typical in-person ceremonies, Wake Tech’s graduation will be virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic. The college is planning a pre-recorded event, complete with graduate photos and video speeches, and the recorded ceremony will be released at 8:30 a.m. on July 25.
Wake Tech’s original graduation date was May 9, but it was postponed shortly after the pandemic hit.
2 p.m.: North Carolina has vastly expanded the access to coronavirus testing over the past seven day, Gov. Roy Cooper said. An average of 7,500 tests are being performed daily, and he said he expects that number to continue to grow.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said expanded testing means the number of coronavirus infections will go up. But she said the percentage of positive tests remains stable at about 7 percent, and the number of COVID-19 patients in North Carolina hospitals also is stable.
1:15 p.m.: Forty-three percent of respondents in a Duke University COVID-19 Digital Lab survey said they felt most North Carolinians were responding appropriately to the pandemic, down significantly from the range of 52-57 percent seen in the survey’s first four weeks. The share of respondents who think most North Carolinians are underestimating the risk is up nine points in the last two weeks, to 42 percent, while those who think most are overreacting has increased from 8 percent in March to 15 percent in the latest survey.
1:05 p.m.: Kohl’s reopened its stores in North Carolina on Monday after taking several steps to ensure customer and worker safety:
- Stores will be open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily until further notice, with 11 a.m. to noon on Monday, Wednesday and Friday reserved for seniors, pregnant women and anyone with an underlying health condition.
- Signage and floor decals have been placed throughout the store to encourage 6 feet of social distancing.
- Only one entrance and exit will be open at each store, allowing staff to provide clean carts to customers and restrict entry if the store reaches its occupancy limit.
- Staff are required to wear masks and gloves, and protective shields are installed at each register.
- Checkout lanes will be cleaned after each customer transaction, including the sanitation of the pin pad and counter.
- Hand sanitizer will be available at each register and throughout the store for customer use.
- Fitting rooms will be closed until further notice.
12:30 p.m.: Only 45 percent of the owners of small- and medium-sized businesses that have closed during the pandemic plan to rehire the same workers they had before the crisis wrecked much of the U.S. economy, according to
a new survey from Facebook. The findings could be bad news for the growing number of unemployed in the U.S. – some 36 million, with nearly 1 million of them in North Carolina.
12 p.m.: Confirmed North Carolina coronavirus cases jumped 460 since Sunday and are now at 19,037. The number is up more than 1,800 since Friday. More than 255,000 tests have been performed in North Carolina.
The updated estimated number of recoveries in the state is expected to be released by 4 p.m. The rolling seven-day average of new infections is 568 per day over the last week, while the seven-day average of virus-related deaths is 16 per day. Around 7 percent of all tests are coming back positive
11:50 a.m.: Another sewer spill in the Triangle has been blamed on a build-up of wipes, likely caused by a toilet paper shortage. Durham crews responded to a sanitary sewer overflow Sunday evening from a manhole at 1708 Woodburn Road, where approximately 264 gallons of wastewater flowed into Sandy Creek. There were no observed hazards to persons or property.
Wipes, even those marked "flushable,” don’t break down readily in water and tend to obstruct pipes and contribute to sewer overflows. Only human waste and toilet paper should be flushed.
11:15 a.m.: Elon University will let high school students applying to its undergraduate programs choose whether to include scores from the SAT or ACT tests as part of their applications.
The three-year pilot test-optional program is a response to testing cancelations due to the pandemic and applies to applicants seeking to enter Elon in fall 2021. Students will continue to submit other materials, including academic records and essays, even if they don't submit test scores.
After three years, the university will evaluate student success and determine if the change will become permanent, officials said.
In a press release, the university said, in addition to the pandemic being a factor, it recognizes "that other factors such as high school GPA serve as better predictors of college success than standardized test scores."
10:50 a.m.: The state Department of Health and Human Services will send packs of protective gear to more than 3,000 state-licensed long-term care facilities to include a 14-day supply of face shields, procedure masks, gloves and shoe covers. Adult care homes, family care homes, nursing homes, intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities and mental health facilities will receive supplies.
10:30 a.m.: "American Idol" crowned its first virtual winner Sunday night. Just Sam, a 21-year-old subway singer from Harlem, performed from home, beating out finalists Julia Gargano, Arthur Gunn, Dillon James and Louis Knight.
10 a.m.: With the pandemic taking over hospitals and making social distance a priority, many expecting mothers are suddenly having to give birth at home. Searches for home births across the U.S. spiked in March, data shows.
"We know we have a vaccine that imitates some of the surface proteins of the virus, but the question is if it can stimulate an immune response," Wolfe said.
Wolfe said some numbers show the vaccine producing enough antibodies, the amount a person would have if they recovered from coronavirus naturally. The testing is still in phase 1, and more study participants must be given the vaccine and studied over a period of time to determine its safety and effectiveness.
"It is one thing to generate antibodies, it is another to show that they actually stop you from getting reinfected or infected in the first place," Wolfe said.
9 a.m.: The Food and Drug Administration will now allow medical labs to start testing at-home coronavirus kits. If a doctor approves it, patients can be prescribed nasal sample kits that will then need to be tested by a lab. FDA officials say the home kits protect people from exposing others at the doctor's office.
8:45 a.m.: On Wednesday, the Goldsboro Police Department will begin fingerprinting applicants for employers again. Applicants will be required to make an appointment, wash their hands when entering the building and wear a face mask. The officer processing applicants will also wear a mask during the process.
8:30 a.m.: Elvis Presley's Graceland says it will reopen Thursday after it shut down tours and exhibits due to the new coronavirus outbreak. The tourist attraction in Memphis, Tenn., said it has adjusted its tours and restaurant and retail operations since it closed in March.
8:15 a.m.: Local Macy's stores, including locations in Crabtree Valley Mall, Cross Creek Mall, Streets at Southpoint and Triangle Town Center, open for in-store shopping on Monday. New procedures in place include frequent and enhanced cleaning in heavily trafficked areas and on hard surfaces, social distancing guidelines, the installation of sanitation stations in frequently visited locations and plexiglass at select registers. Employees will be asked to wear face masks and will have their temperatures taken.
8 a.m.: Uber's new safety policies go into effect Monday, including a ban on front-seat passengers and a mandatory face mask policy for drivers and passengers.
7 a.m.: A new Korean BBQ restaurant in Uptown Charlotte is installing a thermal imaging camera at its hostess stand to take customers' temperatures before they enter the restaurant. The owner said he knows it may upset some people, but it is meant to protect patrons. In South Korea, thermal imaging cameras are standard practice, he said.
6 a.m.: Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville is among several local hospitals taking part in a clinical trial testing the anti-viral drug remdesivir. This week, the hospital expects to get its first doses of the drug approved by the FDA.
California-based biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences donated 607,000 vials of remdesivir for use in the U.S. over the next few months. Cape Fear Valley was allowed to participate based on the health system’s percentage of the overall number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in North Carolina.
Early trials have shown the anti-viral medication speed up recovery times for those with severe cases, and some coronavirus patients who have already tried the drug say it saved their life.
UNC researchers played a key role in the development of the drug, and Duke University Hospital is also participating in the trials – it began offering the treatment to eligible patients in March.
5 a.m.: Judges and contestants will appear again remotely from their homes at 8 p.m. as the two-night finale of NBC's "The Voice" begins on WRAL. The artists will each perform two solos – a cover and an original – from their own homes. They will also take part in a group performance.
4:30 a.m.: Wake County has already spent more than $12 million responding to COVID-19, and that number will only grow. By June 30, officials estimate that number will jump to nearly $63 million.
The money is being spent on testing, individual and business support programs, salaries, supplies and keeping the emergency operations center running. On Monday, commissioners will approve the distribution of federal money Wake County will receive from the CARES Act. Commissioners meet at 2 p.m. and again at 5 p.m.
4 a.m.: The state plans to offer free testing to 21,000 employees working in prisons and juvenile centers. All workers will have access to voluntary testing after more than 1,100 people living and working in correctional facilities have tested positive. Fourteen of them have died.
