Lee County

shows men bent over green plants, pulling peppers into baskets

Coronavirus Today – July 23 – Follow the three Ws, say Mexican and Guatemalan consulate leaders; Plug for Medicaid expansion; ‘Not yet turned a corner’

July 23, 2020 by Anne Blythe

Coronavirus Today – July 23 – Follow the three Ws, say Mexican and Guatemalan consulate leaders; Plug for Medicaid expansion; ‘Not yet turned a corner’ - North Carolina Health News

North Carolina is on steadier ground than many Southern states in its fight against COVID-19, but cases continue to rise especially in Latino communities.

By Anne Blythe North Carolina’s governor, top public health officials and high-ranking leaders from the Mexican and Guatemalan consulates sent an urgent message to Latinx and Hispanic residents on Thursday. COVID-19 is spreading swiftly and disproportionately among their communities, and the best way to fight the virus and keep their communities strong and healthy is […]

shows a man in a respirator helmet talking to a woman in a facemask in an intensive care unit where there have been many coronavirus or COVID patients.

Coronavirus Today – June 12 – Troubling trends, pleas to public to help reverse them; Ace Speedway tells fans no races; UNC physicians on reopening, testing

June 12, 2020 by Editor

Coronavirus Today – June 12 – Troubling trends, pleas to public to help reverse them; Ace Speedway tells fans no races; UNC physicians on reopening, testing - North Carolina Health News

Governor, secretary of health urge North Carolinians to help reverse troubling trends.

By North Carolina Health News staff ‘These trends don’t mean that our fate is sealed’ As North Carolinians get out and about more, they’re mingling more with the coronavirus that’s been creating worldwide havoc, raising concern among public health officials and physicians at major health care centers. They might have been staying at home through […]

we see several tents with cars lined up waiting for people inside to be tested for COVID-19

Coronavirus Today – June 10 – Heightened worries about eight NC counties

June 10, 2020 by Anne Blythe

Coronavirus Today – June 10 – Heightened worries about eight NC counties - North Carolina Health News

Mandy Cohen rings a warning bell on testing, case and hospitalization increases.

By Anne Blythe Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, sounded an alarm on Wednesday, cautioning North Carolinians that COVID-19 metrics are trending the wrong way. On Wednesday, the state reported 1,011 new laboratory-confirmed cases, among the higher day-over-day increases reported during the pandemic. During the past week, the number […]

A small storefront has become a Latino grocery store called Tienda Centro reads the sign. Siler City has one of the highest rates of COVID infection in North Carolina

Latinos, the coronavirus and a single ZIP code

May 29, 2020 by Greg Barnes

Latinos, the coronavirus and a single ZIP code - North Carolina Health News

The 27344 ZIP code, which includes Siler City and Mountaire Farms, has become a hotspot for the coronavirus in North Carolina. Latinos who live in the ZIP code are suffering greatly, but nonprofit organizations can only do so much.

By Greg Barnes and Victoria Bouloubasis This story is being co-published with Enlace Latino NC. Read it here in Spanish. Maricela Martinez still remembers getting her first paycheck from a chicken processing plant in Siler City — $280 for a week’s worth of work back in 1999. “It made me cry,” Martinez said. “This was […]

We see a tent with several people in it who are wearing head-to-toe personal protective equipment, thyr'e talking to someone in a car who is waiting to b tested for COVID-19

Coronavirus Today – May 28 – Bars, senators and Cooper; COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations increase; NC poet laureate joins information campaign

May 28, 2020 by Editor

Coronavirus Today – May 28 – Bars, senators and Cooper; COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations increase; NC poet laureate joins information campaign - North Carolina Health News

As NC bar owners cry foul, lawmakers look to weaken the governor’s executive order.

By North Carolina Health News staff Senate wants to open bars outdoors as hospitalizations rise The state Senate approved a proposal that would allow bars to open in outdoor spaces at half their capacity or for no more than 100 people despite the governor’s safer-at-home order prohibiting such action due to concerns of spreading coronavirus. […]

we look through a chain link fence into an industrial complex / poultry plantwhere multiple workers have tested positive for COVID-19

As COVID races through Mountaire Farms poultry plant, workers deemed vital feel dispensable

May 28, 2020 by Victoria Bouloubasis

As COVID races through Mountaire Farms poultry plant, workers deemed vital feel dispensable - North Carolina Health News

Mountaire criticized for moving too slowly to protect workers who weren’t aware of coronavirus cases in workplace.

By Victoria Bouloubasis and Greg Barnes This story is being co-published with Enlace Latino NC. Read it here in Spanish. On a rapidly moving production line at Mountaire Farms in Siler City, Ana uses a sharp knife to slice the wings off a chicken in less than two seconds, making sure they land into a […]

shows trend lines for COVID-like illnesses in the emergency departments higher than in prior years, but decreasing overall

Coronavirus Today – May 5 – Cooper eases restrictions as of Friday, reporting on nursing home, meat processor outbreaks

May 5, 2020 by Editor

Coronavirus Today – May 5 – Cooper eases restrictions as of Friday, reporting on nursing home, meat processor outbreaks - North Carolina Health News

Gov. Roy Cooper signs an order to slightly ease social distancing restrictions beginning Friday, as he asks people to "wear, wait and wash."

By North Carolina Health News staff Wear, wait and wash in next phase North Carolinians could have a few more places to leave home for after 5 p.m. Friday, when a modified statewide stay-at-home order signed by Gov. Roy Cooper takes effect. Cooper announced plans to move the state into the first phase of easing […]

The Smithfield Food's hog-processing plant in Tar Heel appeared to be operating as usual on Tuesday, April 28, 2019. Photo credit Greg Barnes

Smithfield’s largest slaughterhouse struggling to contain virus

May 1, 2020 by Greg Barnes

Smithfield’s largest slaughterhouse struggling to contain virus - North Carolina Health News

No one will say how many workers at Smithfield’s Tar Heel plant have the coronavirus, but the plant has reduced employees’ hours in what they say is an effort to better protect them.

By Greg Barnes Early Monday, Lumberton lawyer Dale Godfrey said he got word from workers at Smithfield Foods’ Tar Heel plant that the world’s largest hog slaughterhouse might have to close because of an outbreak of the coronavirus. Godfrey said those reports were bolstered by a plant worker who sent him a picture of a […]

The Smithfield Foods processing plant in Tar Heel employs up to 5,000 workers and slaughters 30,000 to 35,000 hogs a day: Photo credit: Melissa Sue Garrets, The Fayetteville Observer

Two more processing plants identified as having coronavirus outbreaks

April 24, 2020 by Greg Barnes

Two more processing plants identified as having coronavirus outbreaks - North Carolina Health News

The state says 190 workers at seven meat and poultry processing plants have tested positive for COVID-19. That’s up from 118 on Tuesday.

By Greg Barnes Two more meat processing plants in North Carolina are experiencing coronavirus outbreaks, bringing the total number of meat and poultry plants with COVID outbreaks to seven, state health officials announced Thursday. The state Department of Health and Human Services still won’t name the plants or say how many workers have tested positive […]

shows hog carcasses hanging in a processing plant.

Coronavirus invading N.C. meat processing plants

April 22, 2020 by Greg Barnes

Coronavirus invading N.C. meat processing plants - North Carolina Health News

Five processing plants, including the mammoth Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Tar Heel, are experiencing outbreaks of the coronavirus, state health officials say.

By Greg Barnes Additional contributions by Enlace Latino NC staff It didn’t take long for the coronavirus to sweep through a Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. On March 26, the plant announced its first case of COVID-19. By April 13, more than 300 workers had tested positive. Today the plant is considered […]

Additional Thanks

Categories