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NC reaches 50% of adults with at least one COVID shot

More than half of North Carolina adults have had at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine, the state Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday.

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By
Jodi Leese Glusco
, WRAL director of digital content
RALEIGH, N.C. — More than half of North Carolina adults have had at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine, the state Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday.
Gov. Roy Cooper has said the state could lift the mask mandate and remove capacity limits for businesses and mass gatherings in June if at least two-thirds of adults statewide have had at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine.

By Thursday, the state had administered more than 7.4 million vaccines. More than 43% of those 18 and over are fully vaccinated. That rises to 74% of the population over 65 years of age. Nearly 35% of the total population of the state, regardless of age, has received at least one dose.

"This is as significant milestone toward our goal of stopping the spread of COVID-19 and bringing summer back to North Carolina," said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy K. Cohen, M.D. "I hope you will join the more than 4 million people who have taken their shot and help put this pandemic behind us."

With vaccinations trending up and daily new cases of COVID-19 trending down, Cooper ended an outdoor mask mandate on April 30. He also revised, upward, the number of people allowed to gather – to 100 people indoors and 200 people outdoors.

The state has averaged about 1,700 new coronavirus infections and 20 virus-related deaths a day over the last week. The rolling average of new cases is as low as it has been this year, and nearly 7,000 fewer a day than the state's peak in early January.

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