WFMY News 2 is providing daily coronavirus updates with the latest information from emergency leaders, the state's task force, health departments, universities, school districts and a lot more.
TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2020
6:27 p.m. - Governor Roy Cooper issued an Order that creates more flexibility in law enforcement training schedules during the state of emergency so that people training for new positions can pause their training and resume at a later date.
“Public health cannot be compromised in the efforts to fill much needed roles in law enforcement during the state of emergency. This Order offers training schedule flexibility during these unusual circumstances so that critical jobs do not go unfilled,” said Governor Cooper.
Specifically, the Order waives the “consecutive weeks of training” requirement so that trainees who may need to isolate or quarantine can pick up their training where they left off and do not have to start training over from the beginning of course instruction. Three specific training programs addressed by the order are the Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET), Criminal Justice Instructor Training and Detention Officer Certification.
The Council of State concurred with the Order today. Read the full Order.
5:13 p.m. - The Winston-Salem City Council approved Monday night the city’s $1 million contribution to the response fund, announced last month.
The fund is being administered by the United Way and the Winston-Salem Foundation. The money in the fund is being distributed through the existing network of local agencies to assist those disproportionately impacted by coronavirus and the economic consequences of the outbreak.
4:20 p.m. - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will award more than $34 million in grants to North Carolina health care centers to assist efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
4:15 p.m. - DGI establishes GoFundMe to provide free meals to cone health employees from downtown restaurants.
DGI wants to raise $54,000 which will help cover the cost of 100 meals per day for 30 days to frontline workers of the COVID-10 pandemic.
For more information about the GoFundMe campaign, and to make a donation, please visit https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/greensborostrong.
4:00 p.m. - The Postal Service said no employees in or around Greensboro have tested positive for coronavirus.
Here is a statement from the Postal Service regarding the coronavirus:
The United States Postal Service is proud of the work our more than 600,000 employees play in processing, transporting, and delivering mail and packages for the American public. We provide a vital public service that is a part of this nation’s critical infrastructure. The Postal Service has a dedicated Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Command Response leadership team that is focusing on employee and customer safety in conjunction with operational and business continuity during this unprecedented epidemic. We continue to follow the strategies and measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health departments. The CDC has information available on its website at https://www.coronavirus.gov that provides the latest information about COVID-19.
To reduce health risks for our employees and customers and to safeguard our operational and business continuity, the Postal Service is doing the following:
- Ensuring millions of masks, gloves and cleaning and sanitizing product are available and distributed to more than 30,000 locations every day through our Postal Service supply chain. We also have opened up local purchasing authorities and sourcing options so that our employees can access additional supplies within the communities they serve. We have expanded our national sourcing of supplies and services to ensure that increasing demands are met.
- Reinforcing workplace behaviors to ensure that contact among our employees and with our customers reflects the best guidance regarding healthy interactions, social distancing, and risk minimization. We have implemented measures at retail facilities and mail processing facilities to ensure appropriate social distancing, including through signage, floor tape, and “cough/sneeze” barriers. We have changed delivery procedures to eliminate the requirement that customers sign our Mobile Delivery Devices for delivery. For increased safety, employees will politely ask the customer to step back a safe distance or close the screen door/door so that they may leave the item in the mail receptacle or appropriate location by the customer door.
- Updated our cleaning policies to ensure that all cleaning occurs in a manner consistent with CDC guidance relating to this pandemic.
- Updated our leave policies to allow liberal use of leave and to, therefore, give our employees the ability to stay home whenever they feel sick, must provide dependent care, or any other qualifying factor under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. We have entered into agreements with our unions to provide 80 hours of paid leave to non-career employees for issues related to COVID-19, and have expanded the definition of sick leave for dependent care for covered employees to deal with the closures of primary and secondary schools across the country.
- Expanded the use of telework for those employees who are able to perform their jobs remotely.
- Issuing a daily cadence of employee talks, articles, videos, and other communications to ensure employees have the latest information and guidance.
- Leveraging localized continuity of operations plans that can be employed in the case of emergencies to help ensure that the nation's postal system continues to function for the American people. With a longstanding history of quickly adapting its operational plans to changing conditions, the Postal Service maintains steady communications with mailers during natural disasters or other events that require emergency responses and advises residential customers and business mailers with regard to postal facility disruptions that may impact delivery in an affected area via its USPS Service Alerts webpage at: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/.
The Postal Service delivers much-needed medications and Social Security checks, and we are the leading delivery service for online purchases. The Postal Service is an essential service for purposes of compliance with state or municipality shelter-in-place orders or other social distancing restrictions. The statute that created the Postal Service begins with the following sentence: “The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by an Act of Congress, and supported by the people.” 39 U.S.C. §101(a).
Importantly, the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html), the World Health Organization (https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses), as well as the Surgeon General have indicated that there is currently no evidence that COVID-19 is being spread through the mail.
Specifically, according to the World Health Organization, “the likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, traveled, and been exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low.” And according to the CDC, “in general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures. Coronaviruses are generally thought to be spread most often by respiratory droplets.” Currently, there is no evidence to support the transmission of COVID-19 associated with imported goods and there have not been any cases of COVID-19 in the United States associated with imported goods.
3:11 p.m. - City of Burlington amends the State of Emergency
On Monday, April 6, 2020, the City of Burlington amended their local State of Emergency. This amended Declaration will take effect at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, 2020.
This amendment is to further stop the spread of COVID-19 and is in response to issues identified since the release of Governor Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 121 on March 27, 2020. The State of Emergency is applicable within the jurisdiction of the City of Burlington and is subject to enforcement by the Burlington Police Department. The City encourages cooperation and aims to achieve voluntary compliance for the health and wellbeing of our community.
Restrictions beginning at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8th include:
- Car washes in the City of Burlington may remain open and operating for exterior car washes only. Other modifications to operations including no entry by employees into customer vehicles will be permitted. Additional requirements for sanitation of shared equipment are outlined in the State of Emergency amendments.
- Non-essential businesses may only maintain Minimum Basic Operations. Businesses that apply to the Department of Revenue to be considered essential and are still deemed non-essential but give provisions by the DOR to still operate will not be allowed to operate in Burlington.
- Retail stores (big box stores) will be required to follow the amended State of Emergency by the City of Burlington intended to promote public health, enable social distancing, and encourage safety.
2:45 p.m. - Rockingham County COVID-19 cases update
7 cases, 1 death, and 2 recovered
2:00 p.m. - Governor Roy Cooper will give an update on coronavirus in North Carolina. Watch live in this story.
1:15 p.m. - Seafood Destiny in Greensboro is feeding childcare workers, teachers and bankers for free Tuesday from 12 noon to 6 p.m.
Workers can either choose from a baked fish plate which includes two pieces of grouper fish and a side of green beans and potatoes, or a 16-ounce seafood gumbo which includes rice, lump crab, grouper fish, shrimp, okra, celery, bell peppers, onions, sausage and tomatoes.
The restaurant is located at 4705 W Gate City Blvd and said no substitutions or special requests are allowed and food will remain available while supplies last.
The business said they will abide by social distancing guidelines, as workers will be able to pick up their food from the restaurant’s food truck.
1:00 p.m. - Davidson County Health Department reports 32 coronavirus case recoveries.
11:00 a.m. - NCDHHS is reporting 3,221 coronavirus cases statewide, and 46 deaths. Five people have died in Guilford County. Two people have died in Forsyth County. One person has died in Davidson County.
9:00 a.m. - Lowe's announced Tuesday it will close all of its stores for Easter Sunday to give employees a much-deserved break and time with family.
7:45 a.m. - We'll bring you a live coronavirus update on our digital show AFTER GMS. Watch in the live player below.
News to note on Tuesday:
- President Trump says Americans should prepare for a rough but crucial week for coronavirus. The number and cases and deaths could surge in hot zone areas like New York. Here's what an infectious disease expert thinks will happen in North Carolina.
- Governor Roy Cooper will hold a coronavirus task force meeting at 2 p.m. WFMY News 2 will stream it live in this story. Here's a breakdown of cases in the Triad.
- Triad nursing students who are set to graduate in May will hit the ground running in the fight against coronavirus. "I want to be that person, I want to help them," said Williams Wallace, who will receive his degree from Forsyth Tech. "I want to be on the front lines to do everything that I can to help the situation."
- It's no question Triad restaurants are feeling the struggle right now. A new Greensboro restaurant opened its doors just a week before North Carolina closed the dining rooms of all bars and restaurants. The owner of Machete says they've had to adjust, but they're getting a lot of support with to-go orders.
- There are over 2,800 cases of coronavirus in North Carolina. More than 300 of them are in the Triad.
FACTS NOT FEAR
Remember facts, not fear when talking about the coronavirus. You should take the same measures recommended by health leaders to prevent the spread of the flu and other viruses. That means washing your hands, avoiding touching your face, and covering coughs and sneezes.
WHERE YOU GET INFORMATION ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS IS IMPORTANT
It is important to make sure the information you are getting about the coronavirus is coming directly from reliable sources like the CDC and NCDHHS. Be careful not to spread misinformation about coronavirus on social media.
NC CORONAVIRUS HOTLINE
The state also has a special hotline set up where you can call 866-462-3821 for more information on the coronavirus. You can also submit questions online at ncpoisoncontrol.org or select chat to talk with someone about the virus.
You can also text keyword VIRUS to WFMY News 2 at 336-379-5775 to find out more information.
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