RALEIGH, N.C. — Here are the latest updates on the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in North Carolina and across the globe:
What you need to know:
Map of current NC cases
Latest updates:
11:00 p.m.: Wake County Public Schools announced late Sunday night that lunch services at all sites have been canceled for Monday due to the impending threat of sever weather. The school system had been continuing to provide lunches despite the schools being closed due to the pandemic.
7:20 p.m.: Durham County announced on Sunday evening that it has confirmed 13 new cases of COVID-19, bringing its total to 290 confirmed cases.
6:50 p.m.: Wake County has confirmed 43 new cases of COVID-19 at the Wellington Rehabilitation and Healthcare facility in Knightdale. The county previously reported four cases from the facility, bringing the total to 47.
6:00 p.m.: The Neuse Correctional facility in Goldsboro now has 21 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19. That number makes it the largest outbreak among state prisons in North Carolina.
4:30 p.m.: An inmate at the federal prison in Butner died of COVID-19 on Saturday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced. Charles Rootes, who was 81, went into respiratory failure and was pronounced dead by hospital staff. Rootes was serving a 99-year sentence and had been in custody at the facility in Butner since October of 2019.
4:15 p.m.: Johnston County released new data stating that it has now confirmed 101 cases of COVID-19 among its residents. Lee County's health department confirmed three new cases, bringing its total to 12.
3:00 p.m.: With severe weather and power outages likely overnight and early Monday morning, Gov. Roy Cooper is asking North Carolinians to prepare. Many have stocked up on perishable food due to the pandemic and will need to take the proper steps to preserve it or trash it if they lose power.
Prepare for power outages and avoid food waste by having a cooler and ice ready to store refrgieraed or perishable foods. Food will stay frozen for 36 to 48 hours in a fully loaded freezer if you keep the door closed. A half-full freezer will generally keep food frozen for 24 hours. When in doubt, throw it out.
2:45 p.m.: New Hanover County has reported its first coronavirus death. The individual, in their 40s, died Sunday, officials said. To protect the family's privacy, no additional information was shared.
2:15 p.m.: With roads cleared of traffic because of the coronavirus pandemic, some cities across the country have repurposed streets into car-free zones, giving pedestrians and cyclists extra room to spread out and practice social distancing.
Cities including Boston, Minneapolis and Oakland, California, have closed streets to through motor traffic. Others are extending sidewalks to make more space for pedestrians looking to stay at least six feet apart. And some municipalities are considering adopting similar measures.
1:50 p.m.: The Brassfield Volunteer Fire Department drove through many neighborhoods, including Wesley Manor in Wake Forest, so the Easter Bunny could wave at children.
relations by an all volunteer organization! Much appreciated during
these shelter in home days. This made our day!
1:30 p.m.: Senior Pastor Andy Thompson from World Overcomers Christian Church in Durham said his traditionally lively service felt different this year from a webcam.
"For me personally, it's challenging," Thompson said. "In a sense, everyone is getting to see me, but I don't get to see everybody."
While the adjustment was necessary, Thompson said he was hopeful that next Easter will be "normal."
"I'm like, 'Wow, it's going to be amazing when we're able to have service together again,'" Thompson said.
1:15 p.m.: “Saturday Night Live” tried its first “quarantine version" of the comedy show, with Tom Hanks, one of the first celebrities to disclose he had the coronavirus, Coldplay singer Chris Martin and the comedy show's entire cast phoning in with jokes from home. “It is good to be here, though it also very weird to be here hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’ at home,” Hanks said, speaking from his kitchen. “It is a strange time to try and be funny, but trying to be funny is ‘SNL’s whole thing.”
12:45 p.m.: There are more sightings of coyotes, bears, deer and other wild animals in North Carolina as more people stay at home. Biologists suggest keeping small pets close and supervised and keeping garbage cans secured.
The nursing home had previously reported six cases but confirmed 51 more after the community was tested on April 10. To protect residents' privacy, no additional information about the confirmed cases will be shared.
Statewide, COVID-19 outbreaks have been reported in 38 congregate living settings, including 25 nursing homes or skilled nursing facilities, as of April 11.
12:00 p.m.: North Carolina now has 4,559 confirmed coronavirus cases, which is up 201 from Saturday, according to the latest numbers. At least 91 deaths have been connected to the virus.
Mecklenburg County has the most cases, with 954. Wake County is second, with 420 casesl and Durham is third with 278. Two new deaths were reported in Rutherford and Burke counties. Hospitalizations have decreased and are down to 331.
Cases reported in the state have increased by over 73% in a week. Last Sunday, cases were at 2,634.
Cuomo said 9/11 was supposed to be "the tragedy of my lifetime," but more lives have been lost from the virus. There is a bit of good news. The number of hospitalizations in New York has gone down, Cuomo said, and the curve of cases is starting to flatten.
11:30 a.m.: A Wilson woman is mourning the death of her father because of the coronavirus. Shaun Lane says her 77- year-old father, Milton, lived in New Jersey. He had underlying health conditions, but she said it caught the family off guard.
11:15 a.m.: Starting Tuesday, Fresh Market will require all customers and employees to wear masks in the grocery store. The chain says staff members will wear masks to keep customers safe and customers must cover their faces, too. There are seven Fresh Market locations in our area, including Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham and Fayetteville.
11:00 a.m.: Turn on WRAL-TV or FOX 50 to watch a livestream of Hayes Barton Baptist Church's Easter service.
10:30 a.m.: With grocery supplies and grocery trips limited, Duke Energy is warning customers to start preparing for
tonight's severe weather in case of a power outage. Think about getting a cooler in case your refrigerator loses power, officials say. The contents will only stay good for about four hours otherwise.
It's also a good idea to make sure your phone is charged and to
download the WRAL Weather App to get severe weather alerts. If you do lose power, report it as soon as possible, Duke Energy says.
10:00 a.m.: Anyone who is hungry can get access to food during the pandemic by calling 311, regardless of their documentation status, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a news conference. Mayor de Blasio wished everyone a happy Easter and thanked New York for wearing face masks while out in public.
They'll start with people who have filed tax returns for 2018 or 2019 and authorized direct deposit. Others, including people who haven't filed returns, authorized direct deposits, or receive Social Security, will probably have to wait weeks or months before seeing their money.
9:15 a.m.: Disney is furloughing nearly 43,000 employees due to the coronavirus shutdown. This is the first large wave of temporary layoffs since the park closed in March. Workers will still have access to health and education benefits and can also enroll in unemployment. The furloughs are set to begin next Sunday.
Stores are encouraged to provide senior-only shopping hours, face coverings for employees and set up shields at checkout. Violators of the new guidelines can face citations.
8:45 a.m.: UNC's faculty and staff have donated personal protection equipment to front line workers at UNC Health, including, N-95 masks, surgical masks and face shields. The Adams School of Dentistry also donated hundreds of thousands of gloves, masks and gowns. The school is also lending special equipment to help keep masks free of germs.
8:30 a.m.: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been discharged from the hospital as he recovers from the coronavirus. Johnson’s office says he left St. Thomas’ Hospital and will continue his recovery at Chequers, the prime minister’s country house. He will not immediately return to work.
Johnson has been in the hospital for a week and spent three nights in the ICU.
Three out of four Americans say they celebrate Easter, and the average number of people at the dining room table most Easter Sundays is 6.4, ranging from a high of 7.3 in the Northeast and Midwest to a low of 5.3 in the West.
7:45 a.m.: New research shows about a third of Americans didn't pay rent this month, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council. The study of 13 million renters found 31% of renters didn't make payments between April 1 and 5.
7:30 a.m.: New listings for homes are down 27% from a year ago, according to data from Zillow. Sellers are reluctant to put their homes up for sale, instead choosing to wait and see amid the uncertainty of the outbreak. The drop in home listings was especially sharp in cities -- New York, Detroit, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh -- which all saw the greatest year-over-year declines.
7:15 a.m.: Experts at the University of Washington are updating their predictions on how serious the outbreak will be in North Carolina. Their data says, by Wednesday, we'll be at our peak, with 21 people will be dying in the state each day.
Researchers have decreased the expected number of deaths in North Carolina from more than 2,000 down to 416.
7:00 a.m.: Easter Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican got underway around 5 a.m. our time. Normally, more than 100,000 tourists, citizens and pilgrims show up for this celebration, but because of the pandemic, today's service is livestreamed. Italy has the world's third highest number of coronavirus cases and the second highest number of deaths.
6:45 a.m.: Pruitt Health Carolina Point has at least 80 cases of COVID-19. The most recent death was a resident in their 60s. This is one of two Orange County care homes that has an outbreak. The second is Signature Health in Chapel Hill.
6:15 a.m.: Dr. Allen Mask says no more than five family members should gather for Easter dinner. Extended family members like cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles should not be invited over this year as the world practices social distancing to slow the spread of coronavirus.
6:00 a.m.: This weekend, North Carolina saw its biggest daily increase in cases. There were 340 more cases reported on Saturday, bringing the total to more than 4,300 across the state. Nationwide, the number of deaths in the U.S. surpassed Italy. America now has the highest death toll of any country -- 20,000 deaths.
