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Tag: COVID-19
Showing 274-294 of 528 results
From CPP: Tech hiccups plague virtual instruction across NC on first day of classes
NCEdCloud, a service supporting virtual education across North Carolina, went down briefly Monday morning as many districts began their first day of school with online-only instruction.
Letter: Why bring students back now?
“I wish people would follow the scientific evidence and wait until it is safe.”
McDowell, Henderson report WNC’s highest COVID-19 cases per capita
North Carolina reported 564 new cases of COVID-19 on Aug. 17, the state’s lowest single-day increase since May 27, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. On paper, those results look promising. But what do they actually mean for Western North Carolina?
Letter: Students and parents on the hook if campuses close
“All of this debt to thousands of students could be avoided by heeding their own words and delaying the move into the campus until the pandemic is controlled.”
From CPP: Congregate outbreaks pose key challenge for NC mountain health care
Interventions by ‘strike teams’ help manage outbreaks at nursing homes; COVID-19 cases mount at Mission Health; St. Luke’s hastens test results through a partnership.
Letter: Work together as a community to defeat virus
“It is time for us to all hang together before we end up all hanging separately.”
Letter: Not ‘every man for himself’ in COVID-19 era
“Dead people, I once heard, make terrible employees and fighters for better living conditions.”
COVID-19 yanks WNC’s local meat supply chain
Roughly 10 small processors are available for all of North Carolina’s local livestock farmers. With higher overall demand due to COVID-19 and commodity beef producers leaning on the local supply chain in their transition to direct-market sales, some farmers can’t get meat processed until the spring of 2021.
From CPP: Pandemic pulls shades over public’s window onto NC local government
The COVID-19 health crisis created logistical challenges, but it didn’t change the state’s law requiring public access to government meetings. Some local governments have taken unlawful shortcuts.
Buncombe considers condemning Catawba casino on Aug. 18
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Richard Sneed, whose tribe owns two casinos in Western North Carolina, had lobbied the board to oppose the rival operation at an Aug. 4 briefing. He argued that the Catawba Indian Nation, members of which primarily reside in South Carolina, were not properly authorized to operate gaming across state lines.
‘No one answer’ for local school COVID-19 notifications
The Asheville and Buncombe County school districts, in partnership with the county health department, have decided how students, parents and staff will be informed of positive COVID-19 cases, should they arise. Both districts will resume instruction on Monday, Aug. 17.
COVID-19 stresses Buncombe opioid response
“We’ve got an epidemic within a pandemic,” says Kevin Mahoney with the Mountain Area Health Education Center. Social distancing, job losses and drug contamination associated with COVID-19 have all complicated local efforts to manage the impacts of opioid use.
Start planning now for November vote
“But whatever you decide, please don’t let anything stop you from voting!”
No weekend COVID-19 safety citations for Buncombe restaurants
After announcing a plan to crack down on restaurants violating COVID-19 safety guidelines last week, city and county officials have yet to issue any citations to area businesses.
From NC Health News: Ticks continue creeping southward in North Carolina
The coronavirus pandemic may have slowed reporting of tick-borne diseases in the state, but the insects are more prevalent than ever and are heading south, some carrying relatively new diseases.
From NC Health News: Summer camps get creative to carry on in pandemic
Some kids have faced social isolation during the pandemic with schools closing and being unable to see their friends. Some youth camps opened their doors in the summer so kids could engage with peers and learn instead of having their eyes glued to a screen.
Buncombe officials will enforce social distancing, mask mandates
Starting this weekend, a task force of public health and law enforcement officials will begin issuing citations for restaurants and breweries in violation of COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Food trucks adapt and roll into new territory
More relaxed regulations mean food trucks can operate at apartment complexes, community centers, libraries and other locations as long as they are more than 50 feet from an occupied residence.
Letter: Enforcement needed on masks
“What is the sense of stores stating they require patrons to wear masks when they do not enforce it?”
From CPP: Working for HCA: Asheville nurses protest conditions at Mission Hospital, win ruling on forming union
Registered nurses at Mission go public with frustrations over alleged staff shortages and safety concerns during pandemic, as the National Labor Relations Board says votes on union representation will be counted Sept. 16.