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6:20 am
The Transportation Security Administration announced that it screened more than 1 million people the day after Christmas.
The day after Christmas was the second most traveled day since the start of the pandemic. The most-traveled day occurred the day before Christmas, when TSA screened 1,191,123 people.
The daily figures this holiday season are about half of the number of travelers who were screened on the same day in 2019.
The TSA numbers come because the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is urging Americans to stay home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the cases continue to increase after Thanksgiving-related travel, health experts warn that a similar rise is likely to occur within a few weeks due to the travel related to the end of the year holidays.
Monday morning Headlines
Residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities in North Carolina will receive the COVID-19 vaccine Monday.
CVS and Walgreens organize the vaccinations, but due to privacy concerns, they do not identify the specific locations where the injections will be received first.
We know that as of Monday, CFS is administering the vaccines at nearly 900 facilities in North Carolina, and more than 40,000 nationwide. The group expects to vaccinate as many as 4 million residents and employees.
CVS said it will start offering the vaccine to the general public sometime next year.
Meanwhile, North Carolina’s COVID-19 statistics remain at or near record levels.
To date, more than half a million people have tested positive for the virus in North Carolina, with at least 6,549 people dead from it. Updated songs will be released around noon.
SUNDAY
9 o’clock in the evening
President Donald Trump signs COVID-19 bill after nearly a week’s delay.
The president announced on Sunday that he had signed the bipartisan bill led by his own representatives, but called it disgraceful earlier this week.
In a statement, the president said he signed the bill, but also called on Congress to make changes to it.
12:48 pm
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported 2,898 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases statewide to 516,828.
The daily positive rate continues to go in the wrong direction and is up 1.5 percent, bringing the total to 11.9 percent. The goal, as set by the NCDHHS officials, is to be about 5 percent.
As of Sunday afternoon, there are currently 100 people in hospital with COVID-19. The number of hospital admissions has been above 3,000 for almost a whole week.
As of Saturday, 23 more people have died as a result of complications with the virus, bringing the total to 6,549.
In total there have been 6,737,864 completed tests, 29,776 more than on Saturday.
SATURDAY
1:40 PM
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services released new COVID-19 numbers for the state for the first time in three days on Saturday.
Figures were not released on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
The daily increase in the number of cases for the past three days is as follows:
December 24: 7,703
De.25: 6.345
December 26: 5,371
In recent days, North Carolina has surpassed 500,000 total cases since the start of the pandemic.
Currently, 3,023 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state. The number of hospital admissions has been above 3,000 since December 21.
The percentage of positive in the state is 10.4 percent. The goal is to get to around 5 percent.
10:29 am
A Nash Correctional Institution perpetrator who was diagnosed as positive for COVID-19 died on Christmas night, prison officials said.
The 81-year-old perpetrator had extensive underlying medical problems. He tested positive for COVID-19 on December 8 and was hospitalized on December 20.
“We sympathize with the perpetrator’s family, as losing a loved one is hard enough, but especially during the holidays,” said Todd Ishee, Commissioner of Prisons. “We continue to work diligently to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in our prisons as the health and safety of staff and the offender population remains our top priority.”
9 o’clock
A look at the state’s ‘County Alert System’ shows the latest trends in community distribution across central North Carolina.
Wake and Durham counties are in the orange zone – with “substantial” levels of community distribution.
Cumberland County is in the red zone – with “critical” distribution.
The latest update shows that more than 90 percent of the state is in red or orange zones.
In the past two weeks, the number of provinces in the red zone has increased from 48 to 65.
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