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State of Morrisville and Schools Edition
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From the Council Office of Steve Rao
December 16, 2020
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State Hospitalizations up by 200, a Record High.
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Winter Advisory in effect in NC with freezing rain moving through.
Durham County and Granville County on 2-hour delay due to weather.
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NC Receives and Distributes Pfizer Covid 19 Vaccine. Duke Receives 2,595 Doses (additional 3,000 later this week, UNC 3,000 doses. Wake Med will receive 3,900 shipments on Thursday. First shipments went to Duke Health, Atrium Health in Charlotte and Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston Salem.
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Governor Cooper asks us to celebrate Christmas Virtually.
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State of Morrisville and Schools Town Hall
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Dec 17 at 7 pm State of Morrisville and Schools Town Hall
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Morrisville Town Council Member Steve Rao hosts a State of Morrisville and Schools Town Hall with Special Guests Chris Heagarty, Wake Tech President Scott Ralls, NC Representative Gale Adcock, District 41 and other leaders from the County for a look at the Achievements during this tough year and a look at the great things in store for 2021.
The Webinar will be Streamed live on https://www.facebook.com/steve.s.rao and also covered on Radio Mirchi on 99.9FM, 101.9 FM and 1490 AM!
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Electoral College elects Joe Biden 46th President.
Mitch McConnell and other Senators accept Biden as next President.
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Rep. Gale Adcock to serve as Deputy Leader for 2021-2022 Legislative Session.
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Wake County Schools Votes to Return Students to Virtual Learning from Jan 4 to Jan 15. In person instruction would resume on Jan. 20th.
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Moderna Emergency Use Authorization expected by end of week.
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North Carolina Racial Task Force Issues Report and Recommendations.
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Justice Newby wins Chief Justice Race.
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NC Community College News
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Tom Stith appointed President of the NC Community Colleges System.
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City of Raleigh Approves $2 billion Downtown South Project to bring jobs, businesses and sport venue to the Capital City.
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Secretary of Commerce Tony Copeland leaves Commerce.
Thanks for his leadership which grew 80,000 jobs and invested in Tech Startups and in Morrisville with INC Research and Microsoft expanding into Morrisville.
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Bipartisan team of Senators working to push through $908 billion relief bill before Govt. Shutdown.
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Congress trying to push through $1.4 trillion spending bill to keep Government running.
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Congressman Price Virtual Update on Covid 19
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Dec 16th 5:30 pm Congressman Price Virtual Update on Covid 19
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Join Congressman Price for a virtual panel discussion, COVID-19: Your Questions Answered, on Wednesday, December 16th from 5:30 to 6:30 PM.
During the event, he will be joined by leading health experts:
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Dr. Elizabeth Tilson, North Carolina's State Health Director and the Chief Medical Officer for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS);
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Dr. David Weber, MD, MPH, FIDSA, FSHEA, FRSM (London): Charles Addison and Elizabeth Ann Sanders Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Epidemiology UNC School of Medicine and UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, Medical Director for UNC Hospitals’ Departments of Hospital Epidemiology, and Associate Chief Medical Officer of UNC Health Care; and
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Dr. Ralph Baric, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UNC-CH.
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FDA Approves Emergency Use of Pfizer Covid19 Vaccine!
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This FDA authorization is significant milestone in the pandemic, which taken more than 295,000 lives in the US and represents one of the most significant advancements
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19, was deemed safe and effective by the FDA.
Pfizer plans to have 6.4 million doses ready for the US in its first rollout round in late December. Because two injections are required per person, that is enough for three million people, out of a total US population of 330 million. 2.9 million doses will be distributed in the first few weeks and 5 % of Produced Covid 19 Vaccine will be held back for emergencies.
Vaccines will be paid by insurance or the Government.
Before the announcement on Friday night, the FDA had come under intense pressure from the Trump administration to approve the vaccine's use.
The head of the agency, Stephen Hahn, was told to approve it for emergency use by Friday or quit, US media reported, although he called this "untrue".
The Pfizer vaccine has already received regulatory approval in the UK, Canada, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Like those countries, the US will give its first doses of the vaccine to the elderly, health workers and emergency crew.
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How does the vaccine work?
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The Pfizer Vaccine is a new type called an mRNA vaccine that uses a tiny fragment of genetic code from the pandemic virus to teach the body how to fight Covid-19 and build immunity.
The vaccine contains a small piece of the [Covid-19] virus's mRNA that instructs cells in the body to make the virus's distinctive 'spike' protein.
When a person receives this vaccine, their body produces copies of the spike protein, which does not cause disease, but triggers the immune system to learn to react defensively, producing an immune response against [Covid-19].
The vaccine is given as two injections, 21 days apart, with the second dose being a booster. Immunity begins to kick in after the first dose but reaches its full effect seven days after the second dose.
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Modified Stay at Home Order/Curfew
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Executive order 181 states all individuals must stay at home or the place they will remain for the night” from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.until Jan 5th.
Certain businesses must close between those curfew hours – this includes bars, entertainment venues, parks, museums and aquariums.
Exceptions include those going to and from work, while businesses selling groceries, medication, health care supplies and fuel may remain open.
Restaurants, breweries, distilleries and wineries can operate with only take-out and delivery services after 10 p.m.
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NC and the Covid19 Vaccine
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Secretary Cohen has revealed that 53 North Carolina hospitals--decided based on number of beds, number of health care workers in direct contact with COVID-19 patients, and county population--will receive the first shipment of 89,800 vaccines. That includes 11 hospitals identified as having enough ultra cold storage to keep the Pfizer vaccine for a number of weeks, should the authorization process be delayed.
It will first be given to health care workers in hospitals and long-term care facilities who treat or work with COVID patients and those who clean areas where COVID patients are present. The state estimates that population at up to 161,000 people.
As additional vaccines are approved, the state will get additional allocations and will expand distribution to others.
The second group targeted by the state will be residents of long-term care, people over the age of 65 who live in crowded situations such as jails and homeless shelters, and other adults who have two or more chronic conditions that put them at greater risk for a severe case of the coronavirus. That group is estimated to number up to 951,000.
Vaccinating the rest of those at high risk for exposure to COVID-19 will encompass another 1 to 1.5 million people – everyone over 65, those under 65 in crowded situations or who work in frontline jobs and don't have two or more chronic conditions.
The third phase makes vaccine available to anyone in an essential position, according to the state "workers in industries critical to societal functioning," and students in K-12 schools and colleges and universities.
The final phase would include the remainder of the North Carolina population.
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NC Hospitals to Receive Covid19 Vaccine
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NC Hospitals to receive Vaccine
- Bladen Healthcare LLC (Bladen County Hospital)
- Caldwell Memorial Hospital
- CarolinaEast Medical Center
- Catawba Valley Medical Center
- Cumberland County Hospital System Inc (Cape Fear Valley Health System)
- Duke University Health System
- Henderson County Hospital Corporation (Margaret R. Pardee Memorial Hospital)
- Hoke Healthcare LLC (Hoke Hospital)
- The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority (CMC Enterprise)
- University of North Carolina Shared Services Agreement
- Wake Forest Baptist Health
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Join me Sunday 4 PM on Radio Mirchi for another update on local issues.
99.9FM HD4, 101.9 FM and 1490 AM!
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Join me Monday at 10 am on International Broadcast Media TV for a global for World Edition, an update on global politics.
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- For latest Covid 19 information, please dial 2-1-1 or 888- 892-1162.
- Get Updates by texting COVIDNC at 898211.
- For unemployment insurance, please visit NC Dept of Employment Security at https://des.nc.gov/.
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Apply for Wake Forward program at https://covid19.wakegov.com/wakeforward/.
The latest Centers for Disease Control report predicts somewhere between 294,000 to 321,000 COVID-19 related deaths are possible by Dec. 19.
Another 200 people are in the hospital with COVID-19 in North Carolina. That brings the state to a record high of 2,735 with 96% of the state's hospitals reporting.
There were 5,236 newly-reported positive COVID-19 cases, which is in line with the number of new cases reported every day over the last week.
The daily percent positive rate dipped to 10.9%, a decrease from Monday's 11.6% but still above the state's goal of 5%. There have now been 446,601 total cases in the state since March.
Another 26 people have died from COVID-19, bringing the total to 5,881 in North Carolina.
CASES:
5,273 New Cases 12.5 % Positive
+ N.C. = 451,874 Cases (Deaths = 5,979)
+ 10.9 % Positive Rate
+ Wake County = 35,785 Cases (Deaths = 323)
+ US = 16.8 million Cases/304K deaths
+ Worldwide = 73.6 million/1.64 million deaths
+ Completed Tests: 6, 106, 102
+ 2,811 Hospitalizations.
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Morrisville News - Please Participate
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TOWN OF MORRISVILLE NAMED FINALIST IN THE GLOBAL SMART CITY CHALLENGE
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It is my pleasure to announce that Morrisville has been selected as a finalist for the 2020 Global Smart Cities Readiness Challenge. Morrisville was named as 1 of 10 finalists and will potentially have the opportunity to lead a Readiness Cohort in 2021. We are working with the Communications Department to get this information out to the community so that they can vote for our submission. You can find more information at the link below.
To vote on our submission, you can click on the ‘begin rating process’ button and use the stars under our video on the following page (BIG thanks to Communications for helping put together our finalist video). The rating will submit once you exit the page. Voting is allowed once per day and closes on January 5. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Please consider supporting Morrisville Smart City efforts by giving our plans 5 stars every day until Jan 5th.
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Council Member Rao holds office hours on Friday from 12:00-1:00 PM by appointment only at 100 Town Hall Drive in Morrisville.
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Council Member Steve Rao
Town of Morrisville
Dedicated to transforming Morrisville into an ideal place to work and raise a family!
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