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NC Cases:
39,481
NC Cases Hospitalized:
812
NC Deaths:
1064
COVID-19 Hospitalizations
Reported hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients continued to climb, with the state reporting a new high Thursday of 812 people being treated in hospitals for coronavirus infections. Hospitalizations increased by 153 patients since last Thursday. In an interview with reporters last week, Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease expert at the UNC School of Medicine, called COVID hospitalizations "really, the truest canary in the coal mine for us. It's really the best indicator we have of where we are with the pandemic."
Hospitalizations is one metric state public health officials use to track the course of the coronavirus outbreak over time. It is also one of four metrics officials are using to look at whether they can move forward with easing restrictions.
Positive laboratory confirmed cases is another metric. Those numbers continue to increase as well. Some increases in case counts can be attributed to an increase in testing.
More than 572,600 people have been tested for COVID-19 in North Carolina, which is about 19,000 more than Wednesday. The percentage of people who tested positive were 9%.
On Wednesday, Cohen, said the state has tripled its one-day testing goal, and it wants to continue those trends by testing more people, especially people in historically marginalized communities, who have been hardest hit by COVID-19.
In a memo Tuesday to health care providers and laboratories, DHHS said community transmission is increasing in many areas of the state and among historically marginalized populations, especially among African Americans and the LatinX community.
Black people make up 27 percent of all positive cases, and 34 percent of all COVID-19 related deaths in North Carolina. However, they make up only 22 percent of the state's population.
The memo included updated guidance on when clinicians should test patients, or arrange for them to be tested. DHHS has websites that help users decide whether they should be tested for the coronavirus, and identifies testing locations.
White House Worries
ADAM WAGNER AND DAVID RAYNOR, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/10/20
Dr. Deborah Birx and the White House Coronavirus Task Force are worried about COVID-19's spread in a handful of North Carolina counties, including in the Triangle. On Wednesday, state health secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said North Carolina is ramping up testing and tracing resources to several of those counties and others, including Alamance, Duplin, Durham, Forsyth, Johnston, Lee, Mecklenburg and Wake.
A News & Observer analysis of positive tests reported by each of the eight counties since May 26 shows the doubling rate has shortened in some of the counties of concern, but lengthened in others. Doubling rate measures how long the total number of cases in each county takes to double. When the doubling time declines, that indicates the virus is spreading more quickly in those places.
Among the counties Birx expressed concern about the doubling time is generally declining in Alamance, Durham, Johnston, Mecklenburg and Wake counties.
Durham County, for instance, reached a doubling time of 28 days on May 27. Then, on May 30, the doubling time began to drop, hitting 18 days as of Tuesday. Statewide, the doubling time for COVID-19 cases is about 23 days, recently ticking upward from 22 days. In Duplin, Forsyth and Lee counties, doubling time has grown in recent weeks. That indicates the virus is spreading more slowly in those places. There are also alarming trends statewide.
Each day this week, North Carolina has reported a new record-high for residents hospitalized with COVID-19. On Monday, the state reported 739 patients, 774 on Tuesday and 780 on Wednesday. "That's worrisome," Cohen told a House committee Wednesday morning. "It's not just about cases, but people are actually getting quite sick."
Task Force
DAWN BAUMGARTNER VAUGHAN, LYNN BONNER, AND STEVE WISEMAN, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/09/20
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday that he signed an executive action on racial equity. The executive order forms the North Carolina Task Force on Racial Equity and Criminal Justice, which Cooper said "will develop and help implement strategies and policies to help eliminate systemic racism in our criminal justice system."
N.C. Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls and Josh Stein, the state's attorney general, will lead the task force. "For way too long, black people have not been treated equitably in the United States. We have to fix that," Stein said. "I look forward to working closely with co-chair Justice Anita Earls and the full task force to making North Carolina a safe place for every person, no matter who you are." Cooper wants a report filed to him by Dec. 1.
"They will convene a wide range of stakeholders," Cooper said, "including: community policing advocates, state and local law enforcement agencies, people who have gone through and been affected by the justice system, judicial branch representatives, people from marginalized populations and more. Their work will examine law enforcement and criminal justice practices, make concrete recommendations for how to make real improvements."
Criminal Justice Reforms
WILL DORAN, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/10/20
As protests over police brutality and racial injustice have rocked cities across the country over the last two weeks, North Carolina lawmakers are dusting off criminal justice reform proposals that had appeared to be dead. Last year, the Republican-led N.C. Senate passed two such reform bills with unanimous support. But then both bills went to the Republican-controlled N.C. House, where they spent months without ever coming up for a vote. But that changed on Wednesday.
One of the bills, H511, proposes sentencing reforms for nonviolent drug crimes that would let judges go around "mandatory minimum" laws for drug users who get treatment for substance abuse and meet other requirements. The other, S562, is aimed at letting people expunge their criminal records in certain cases. Having a criminal record can often make it difficult, if not impossible, to find a job or be approved for a lease or a loan. On Wednesday, the House passed the expunction bill unanimously, 10 months after the Senate also unanimously passed it. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper will now decide whether to approve or veto it.
Legislative Highlights
Bills signed by the Governor into Law
Senate Bill 476
- Mental Health Needs of Student. This bill requires the state board of education to adopt a school-based mental health policy and require K-12 school units to adopt and to implement a school-based mental health plan that includes a mental health training program and a suicide risk referral protocol.
Bill that passed House and Senate and awaiting Governor signature
- House Bill 1187- Raise the Age Funding. This bill requires funding to implement Raise the Age statute.
- Senate Bill 562 - The Second Chance Act. This bill makes various revision to the expunction laws of the state.
Bills on the Move
- Senate Bill 808 - Medicaid Funding Act. This funds the cost for Medicaid Transformation along with money to:
- relocate DHHS from the Dorothea Dix Campus
- pay for the child welfare case management component for NC DSS
- pay for needed funds within the Division of Medicaid
- pay for MH/DD/SA funds
- House Bill 1214 - Dept of Health and Human Services Revisions. This bill does conforming and technical changes for DHHS. One section allows DHHS flexibility to adjust existing single stream funding allocations. Another requires LME/MCO utilization of standardized out-of-network agreements for behavioral health or I/DD services.
- Senate Bill 730 - No Patient Left Alone Act. Provides patient visitation rights that will not be impacted during declared disasters and emergencies.
- House Bill 1048 - CPS Intake Screening/PED Recommendations. Requires DHHS to make policy changes as a means to improve the consistency of child protective services intake screening process.
- House Bill 612 - DSS Review of Procedures/Criminal History/OAH. This bill requires the social services commission of NC DSS to review policies, guidelines and other interpretive statements (usually disseminated through the "Dear County Director Letters") and submit a report to the Office of Administrative Hearings to identify any that meet the requirements of "rule" and must go through the rule making process with the Rules Commission. It also allow for individuals who fee they have been injured by a policy or guideline that should have gone through the rule making process to file a challenge with the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Governor Cooper's Executive Orders:
