NC coronavirus

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 […]

Legislators race to get COVID information as they start drafting bills

April 10, 2020 by Rose Hoban

Legislators race to get COVID information as they start drafting bills - North Carolina Health News

Advocates for child care and aging issues, along with EMS workers, delivered dense presentations for lawmakers to sort through as they rush to create legislation for COVID pandemic relief.

By Rose Hoban In response to the coronavirus pandemic, North Carolina lawmakers are rushing to hear presentations and line up priorities for how the state legislature can augment the federal funding flowing from the $2 trillion CARES Act, which passed late last month. In the third meeting of the health care working group of the […]

shows a statistical model of coronavirus cases

Will North Carolinians still be staying at home in May, too?

April 7, 2020 by Anne Blythe

Will North Carolinians still be staying at home in May, too? - North Carolina Health News

NC scientists develop a COVID-19 model showing how social distancing could keep the health system from being overwhelmed by Memorial Day.

By Anne Blythe and Rose Hoban If North Carolina lifts its stay-at-home order at the end of April and goes back to business as usual before social-distancing measures were in place, the state’s health care system likely would be overwhelmed quickly with people infected with COVID-19 in need of urgent care, state-specific models show. Scientists […]

shows health care workers in protective gowns waiting for patients to be tested for Coronavirus, COVID-19

Fear on the front: Health workers adapt and brace for surge

April 6, 2020 by Rose Hoban

Fear on the front: Health workers adapt and brace for surge - North Carolina Health News

Health care workers on the “front lines” of caring for COVID-19 patients have had their lives upended in an extraordinary way.

By Rose Hoban Shaved beards. Extra showers. Children sent to relatives. Living apart from spouses. These are just some of the changes, large and small, that health care providers in North Carolina have been making over the past weeks as they prepare for the surge of patients infected with COVID-19 who are only now starting […]

shows the front of the legislative building in Raleigh, general assembly

Lawmakers receive sobering coronavirus updates

April 3, 2020 by Rose Hoban

Lawmakers receive sobering coronavirus updates - North Carolina Health News

While lawmakers are still gathering information, they have been focused on helping regions and health systems address the coronavirus crisis.

By Rose Hoban Lawmakers on the health care working group of the House Select Committee on COVID-19 had another sobering meeting to collect information on the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic which has upended life across the globe. Working group co-chair Rep. Josh Dobson (R-Nebo) said the group is still trying to get their […]

House Select Committee on COVID-19 committee meeting, sparsely attended due to the coronavirus

State lawmakers start moving on coronavirus relief

March 27, 2020 by Rose Hoban

State lawmakers start moving on coronavirus relief - North Carolina Health News

A bipartisan committee that's been newly formed to address coronavirus needs heard from providers about their cash flow and equipment needs.

By Rose Hoban Even as Congress acts to provide financial relief for families and industries that have been shell-shocked by the effects of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, legislators at the N.C. General Assembly are starting to address the many legal and financial issues the ongoing outbreak is presenting to the state. This week, lawmakers met […]

health care workers wearing personal protective equipment, or PPE

North Carolina hospitals asking for masks, gloves for COVID-19 response

March 23, 2020 by Sarah Ovaska

North Carolina hospitals asking for masks, gloves for COVID-19 response - North Carolina Health News

Hospital systems in the Triangle and beyond are asking for donations of gloves, masks and disinfectant to prepare for the coming surge of coronavirus cases.

By Sarah Ovaska with Rose Hoban The national shortage of personal protective equipment is showing itself in North Carolina, with hospital systems in the state already asking for public donations of gloves and masks. WakeMed Raleigh and the 11-hospital UNC Health system issued a joint call Sunday afternoon for donations of N95 respirator masks, surgical […]

Toni Henley says she is frustrated because her husband, Jeff, had to wait nearly a week to be tested for the COVID-19. Now he's being given hydroxychloroquine

Harnett County coronavirus patient now hospitalized, unproven drugs may be part of treatment

March 22, 2020 by Greg Barnes

Harnett County coronavirus patient now hospitalized, unproven drugs may be part of treatment - North Carolina Health News

Jeff Hensley, 57, started feeling ill on March 4, now his wife says he's being treated with hydroxychloroquine, an old drug that researchers hope will be a "hail Mary" treatment for coronavirus infection.

By Greg Barnes and Rose Hoban Update: Jeff Hensley returned home Sunday, according to a Facebook post his wife, Toni Hensley wrote. “[H]e is tired and weak and still short of breath but he will be recovering at home with his personal home nurse,” she wrote. A Harnett County man with the coronavirus has taken […]

we see the top of a woman's face. She has on a mask agains the novel coronavirus

Coronavirus Today – Friday, March 20 – Call for medical professionals, testing ramps up, closures and postponements

March 20, 2020 by Editor

Coronavirus Today – Friday, March 20 – Call for medical professionals, testing ramps up, closures and postponements - North Carolina Health News

North Carolina completes the first full week of working from home and kids being home from school, all while the number of coronavirus cases starts to climb.

North Carolina now has 137 confirmed cases in the novel coronavirus in 38 counties, according to the Thursday morning update by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Those include two cases of community spread, meaning cases where a person came down with COVID-19 with no known contact with an infected individual. Four people […]

shows a selfie of a man on this computer, connecting with patients about coronavirus via telemedicine

COVID-19 prompts a shift to telehealth

March 19, 2020 by Sarah Ovaska

COVID-19 prompts a shift to telehealth - North Carolina Health News

With private health insurers, along with Medicare, Medicaid removing barriers to pay, more practitioners will treat remotely.

By Sarah Ovaska The coronavirus pandemic quickly overhauled how medicine will be practiced for more routine needs, with doctor offices switching to virtual exams over the phone or video as the COVID-19 pandemic bears down on the country. Instead of easing their way into the change, the switch to telemedicine has been more akin to […]

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