NC coronavirus update December 3: Vaccine cards will be given to people who receive COVID 19 vaccines

RALEIGH, North Carolina – Here are the latest updates on COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in North Carolina.

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THURSDAY MORNING STORIES

The US Department of Defense has released an overview of COVID-19 vaccination kits and what they look like. One key point – vaccine recipients will receive an immunization record to show others that they have received a vaccine and when the next dose is due.

The card will be small enough to fit in a wallet. This shows that you have received at least one dose of the vaccine; it can also be used as a reminder for when your second dose is due.

Each vaccine will be reported to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Healthcare workers are expected to be among the first to receive the vaccine – possibly in December.

“Everyone will receive a written card that they can put in their wallet that will tell them what they have had and when their next dose is due,” said the associate director of the Immunization Action Coalition, Dr Kelly Moore. “Let’s make it simple and easy first. Everyone will do it.”

Governor Roy Cooper will visit a Morrisville facility playing a key role in the fight against COVID-19 on Thursday. Gilero designs medical devices such as face shields and Governor Cooper contacted the company in March, asking for help with the state’s response to the virus.

A drive-thru test event in Raleigh will take place Saturday and Sunday at the Gethsemane Seventh-day Adventist Church on Sanderford Road. The test lasts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can register here.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association will meet on Thursday and the basketball season kicks off next week. Recently, the NCHSAA made the choice to require all athletes to wear masks during indoor and outdoor events. At present, only certain sports are allowed to play.

The State Board of Education will meet today to discuss the management of COVID-19 with several representatives from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

WEDNESDAY

4:10 p.m.
Wake County will bring free COVID-19 testing to the Raleigh Gethsemane Seventh-day Adventist Church, located at 2525 Sanderford Road in southeast Raleigh, this Saturday and Sunday with toll-free drive-thru.

“We want to make testing readily available in communities where access may be limited – like southeast Raleigh or near downtown,” said Dr Kim McDonald, Wake County medical director. “Partnering with churches helps us bring COVID-19 testing to communities in a convenient and safe way.”

Those looking for a test can visit this link to get a time slot. The time slots will be between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
3:30 p.m.
North Carolina Central University Athletics announced on Wednesday afternoon that due to concerns about COVID-19 within the program, it will not play its next road games at Wofford (Thursday, December 3) and USC Upstate ( December 5).

Officials said there have been no positive tests in the NCCU men’s basketball program so far.

12:30 p.m.

North Carolina reports high daily increases in deaths from COVID-19 and the number of people hospitalized with the virus.

The Department of Health and Human Services is also reporting what may be the highest positive percentage rate of all time. The rate is noted 11.4%. The state had an 11% rate in July, but that was before the state started recording the number down to the first decimal point.

Another 4,199 people have tested positive for the virus. The death toll from the virus in North Carolina has increased by 82, to 5,366 since the start of the pandemic.

State reports at least 2,039 people are hospitalized with the virus

Full data can be found on the NCDHHS COVID-19 dashboard.

11:00
The White House coronavirus task force issued its most urgent warning yet in a document to governors, but has not been made public to the American public.

In the document, obtained this week by ABC News, the task force advises seniors to avoid unmasked indoor gatherings and that other Americans assume they have been infected with the virus if they made their way to celebrations. of Thanksgiving.

The task force’s new report says the risk of COVID-19 for all Americans is at an all-time high. ABC News got the governors briefing dated November 29.

The task force recommends that anyone over the age of 65 or with significant health problems “not enter indoor public spaces where anyone is unmasked” and that all Americans under the age of 40 should “assume that you got infected ”if Thanksgiving involved anyone outside of the immediate family.

“You are dangerous to others and you must isolate yourself from anyone at increased risk of serious illness and get tested immediately”,

“We are in a very dangerous place due to the current extremely high COVID baseline and limited hospital capacity; another post-Thanksgiving surge will compromise COVID patient care, as well as medical care in general.”

The report notes that North Carolina is in the red zone for COVID-19 cases, which means there are 101 new cases per 100,000 in the population. NC is in the yellow zone for test positivity, indicating a rate between 5.0% and 7.9%. Mecklenburg County, Wake County and Guilford County have recorded the highest number of cases in the past three weeks. These counties account for 23.3% of new cases in North Carolina.

Almost all counties, 86%, in North Carolina have moderate or high levels of community transmission.

The report can be read in its entirety here.

WEDNESDAY MORNING STORY LINES

As Wake County continues to add COVID-19 testing sites to meet demand, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said the state is preparing for the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine.

UNC professor and former Wake County health director Dr Leah Devlin said the goal is for 75% of North Carolinians to be vaccinated by summer 2021. Dr Devlin is one of three co-chairs of the NC Institute of Medicine’s COVID-19 Vaccine Committee.
Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and BioNTech say they obtained authorization for emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine in Britain on Wednesday. The move would make Britain one of the first countries to start vaccinating its people.

U.S. Republican Ted Budd, of North Carolina, said he had tested positive for COVID-19 and would complete his recovery at home. Budd said in a video message posted to social media on Tuesday that he was showing “very mild symptoms” and that he will be working remotely from his family farm with staff in the district and in Washington.

The state surpassed 2,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Tuesday and reported a positive test rate of about 10.2%. New figures are expected to be released around noon on Wednesday.