Good morning State and Local CFAC members, Brain Injury Advisory Council Members, DMHDDSAS Commission Members, Provider Partners, and LME/MCO CEOs,
We are pleased to announce the formation of the Carolina Community Tracing Collaborative, a new partnership with Community Care of North Carolina and the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers to expand contact tracing.
Contact tracing is the process of supporting patients and notifying contacts of exposure in order to stop chains of transmission. Our local health departments are North Carolina's experts in this essential detective work. The new Collaborative will hire and train staff that will support local health department's contact tracing efforts. This will allow North Carolina to meet the goal of doubling the number of contact tracers in the state to 500.
Recruitment will start immediately; interested applicants should visit the Collaborative's webpage. Special consideration will be given to those who are unemployed, have community engagement experience and live in the communities that they will serve.
In addition, we have the following COVID-19 updates to share.
- Is North Carolina Slowing the Spread?
- Remote Learning to Continue Through End of 2019-2020 School Year
- $2 million Emergency Grant will Support Behavioral Health Response to COVID-19
- Telehealth Helping North Carolinians Access Care
Is North Carolina Slowing the Spread?
Governor Cooper's plan to slowly lift restrictions will be guided by the state's progress on testing, tracing and trends. We've added a section on the COVID-19 Dashboard for the combination of metrics we are following, including:
- COVID-like syndromic cases
- Lab-confirmed cases
- Positive tests as a percentage of total tests
- Hospitalizations
The dashboard will also share where we are on our testing and tracing capacity, including our supply of personal protective equipment, number of tests per day, and staffing for contact tracing.
Remote Learning to Continue Through End of 2019-2020 School Year
"School buildings will stay closed to students for this school year, but school isn't over. The decision to finish the year by remote learning was not made lightly, but it is the right thing to do to protect our students, teachers and communities. This is a difficult time for many children and parents, and I am grateful for all the educators, administrators, support staff and parents who have gone the extra mile to keep children learning," Governor Cooper said.
$2 million Emergency Grant will Support Behavioral Health Response to COVID-19
A $2 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will support NCDHHS' efforts to address the growing needs of people with mental health issues and substance use disorder as it relates to the COVID-19 crisis, along with the mental health needs of the general public and health care workers who are on the front lines of this pandemic.
Telehealth Helping North Carolinians Access Care
Using telehealth, North Carolinians can receive services while avoiding the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Doctors and other clinicians across the state are using telehealth to deliver primary care and prenatal care; help patients manage asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions; and provide behavioral health counseling, physical therapy and more. All insurance companies in the state, including Medicaid and Medicare, are covering healthcare visits through telehealth. DHHS and NC Medicaid have developed a video and a flyer to help alleviate concerns and encourage people to talk with their doctors about using telehealth to get the care they need to stay healthy.
