| Spread of Coronavirus Across the United States, as of Friday afternoon, Aug. 28, the number of people who are confirmed to have coronavirus has crossed the 6 million threshold and is currently sitting at 6,067,600 cases. Sadly, 185,272 people have died from the virus. In North Carolina the number of people who are “laboratory-confirmed” to have coronavirus is 162,491. Currently, 970 people are hospitalized. To date, 2,652North Carolinians have died from coronavirus. NCDHHS estimates that as of Monday 136,630 have recovered. Much more data is available at the NC DHHS “Dashboard”. See https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard. Locally, the number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Ashe County is 194. The number of Watauga County residents who have tested positive is 484. Of these cases, 80 are currently active. Twenty-eight people in the district have been hospitalized at some point during the outbreak. The figure includes Alleghany County which is part of the local health department district, and which is not separated out in the hospital count among counties. One person has died in Ashe County from coronavirus. In Ashe and Watauga Counties, 144 residents are currently being monitored as possibly having Covid-19. You can get more local data from the AppHealth Care Dashboard at https://www.apphealthcare.com/covid-19-information/covid-19-data-dashboard/. The active case count at App State is 3 employees and 38 students. All are in isolation, according to the university. A cumulative count of those who have tested positive for Covid-19 is 25 employees, 150 students, and 41 subcontractors (workers on campus who were not staff or faculty). These figures are included in AppHealthCare’s daily updates The site is updated regularly. Click on the link to view more details: https://www.appstate.edu/go/coronavirus/ Our prayers are with all these people affected by coronavirus along with their families. Please follow public health officials’ guidance: Wear a face mask in public settings. Wait 6 feet apart. Wash your hands frequently. More Money Possible Next Week for NC Unemployed |
| Gov. Roy Cooper said Wednesday that he expects North Carolinians on unemployment will see the $300 federal boost in their checks next week. That money won’t last long. So far, the federal government has approved only enough money to cover three weeks of payments, all of which have already passed. The benefits will be paid retroactively. Congress may eventually approve more funding, and it’s possible that the North Carolina General Assembly will increase state-funded benefits when they gather for another legislative session next week. Read more: https://www.wral.com/cooper-nc-unemployment-checks-could-include-extra-money-as-soon-as-next-week/19255623/ Help During the Pandemic DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen announced recently the launch of a website that will assist those in need of things like help navigating the unemployment landscape, food assistance, or housing and shelter, among other things. The NCCARE360.org website is now interactive for all 100 counties. Go to the website to request assistance from agencies in your area: https://nccare360.org/ If You have Coronavirus Symptoms… If you believe you have symptoms of coronavirus and live in Watauga County:1) Call AppHealthCare at 828-264-4995 or (828) 795-1970 during regular business hours,2) Visit https://apprhs.org/covid19-screening/ online and follow screening instructions, or3) Call your primary care doctor. If you believe you have symptoms of coronavirus and live in Ashe County call AppHealthCare at 336-246-9449 or call your primary care doctor. More Information Our public heath office, AppHealthCare, is the primary local source of information about coronavirus. See https://www.apphealthcare.com/covid-19-information/ For more information from our hospitals, see Appalachian Regional’s website at https://apprhs.org/COVID19/ or Ashe Memorial Hospital’s website at https://www.ashememorial.org/ for their updates. For information specific to North Carolina, the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) provides the latest information on COVID-19 at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/. Also, North Carolina coronavirus updates are available by calling 888.892.1162 or by texting COVIDNC to 898211 |