littlemissmartypants
littlemissmartypants's JournalWith Cases Rising Rapidly, North Carolina Tightens Existing Mask Requirements and Enforcement
Press ReleaseExecutive Order 180 effective Nov. 25th, 2020
Ten More Counties Designated as Red for Critical Community Spread
Raleigh
Nov 23, 2020
Governor Roy Cooper today issued additional COVID-19 safety measures to tighten mask requirements and enforcement as cases continue to rise rapidly in North Carolina and across the country. Executive Order No. 180 goes into effect on Wednesday, November 25 and runs through Friday, December 11.
"I have a stark warning for North Carolinians today: We are in danger," Governor Cooper said. "This is a pivotal moment in our fight against the coronavirus. Our actions now will determine the fate of many."
In addition to extending Phase 3 capacity limits and safety requirements, the Order tightens the existing statewide mask requirement – making it clear that everyone needs to wear a mask whenever they are with someone who is not from the same household. The Order also adds the mask requirement to several additional settings including any public indoor space even when maintaining 6 feet of distance; gyms even when exercising; all schools public and private; and all public or private transportation when travelling with people outside of the household.
The Order also requires large retail businesses with more than 15,000 square feet to have an employee stationed near entrances ensuring mask wearing and implementing occupancy limits for patrons who enter.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, updated North Carolina’s COVID-19 County Alert System* map due to the rapid rise in cases and hospitalization over the past week. Since introducing the system last week, ten more counties have moved into the red category indicating critical community spread. There are now 20 red counties and 42 orange counties. Read the update to see where each county stands and how the system was designed.
*https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard/county-alert-system
“The coming weeks will be a true test of our resolve to do what it takes to keep people from getting sick, to save lives, and to make sure that if you need hospital care whether it’s for a heart attack or a car accident or COVID-19, you can get it,” said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy K. Cohen, M.D.
Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan spoke at today’s press conference to discuss what the city of Greensboro is doing to step up enforcement of existing, strong statewide safety rules. State officials have encouraged local governments to take action to require compliance and help lower COVID-19 numbers.
Dr. Cohen also provided an update on North Carolina’s data and trends.
●Trajectory in COVID-Like Illness (CLI) Surveillance Over 14 Days
North Carolina’s syndromic surveillance trend for COVID-like illness is increasing.
●Trajectory of Confirmed Cases Over 14 Days
North Carolina’s trajectory of cases is increasing.
●Trajectory in Percent of Tests Returning Positive Over 14 Days
North Carolina’s trajectory in percent of tests returning positive is increasing slightly.
●Trajectory in Hospitalizations Over 14 Days
North Carolina’s trajectory of hospitalizations is increasing.
In addition to these metrics, the state continues building capacity to adequately respond to an increase in virus spread in testing, tracing and prevention.
●Testing
Testing capacity is high.
●Tracing Capability
The state is continuing to hire contact tracers to bolster the efforts of local health departments.
●There have been more than 430,000 downloads of the exposure notification app, SlowCOVIDNC.
Personal Protective Equipment
●North Carolina’s personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies are stable.
Snip...
More at the link including links to three PDFs
1) Executive Order 180
2) A Frequently Asked Questions document about the Order and
3) The slides from [November 23rd] today’s briefing.
https://governor.nc.gov/news/cases-rising-rapidly-north-carolina-tightens-existing-mask-requirements-and-enforcement
Please stay safe everyone.
❤lmsp
Biden eyes ... health secretary
Biden eyes New Mexico governor, Obama surgeon general for health secretary
By ADAM CANCRYN and ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN
11/24/2020 08:37 PM EST
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy have emerged as top contenders to be Joe Biden’s health secretary.
Snip
Biden has not yet made a final choice, according to three Democrats familiar with the selection process, and an announcement is unlikely to come until Monday at the earliest. The deliberations could still circle back to others in a field of as many as a half-dozen finalists, like Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, former Louisiana health secretary Rebekah Gee and North Carolina health secretary Mandy Cohen.
More at the link.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/24/biden-health-secretary-pick-440520
What an honor to be under consideration!
❤lmsp
Mark As Read Error
I accidentally marked my subscription, The North Carolina group, as read and I can't undo that. How do I unmark the group as read? TIA for your help.
❤ lmsp
North Carolina passes 5,000 COVID-19 deaths
North Carolina this weekend surpassed 5,000 total COVID-19 deaths.
November 22, 2020 - 02:32 PM EST
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported the state on Saturday reached 5,005 coronavirus deaths and 332,261 cases since the beginning of the pandemic in March. Analysis by the Raleigh News & Observer found that almost 1,000 of those deaths were recorded in the past month.
Snip
State data shows that more than half of those who have died from COVID-19 in the state were 75 or older, while 4 percent were 25 to 49 years old.
Although the Black population in the state amounts to 21 percent of the state population, 29 percent of those who have died were Black. Sixty-two percent of those who died from the virus were white.
Beth Booth, the Graham County health director, told the News & Observer that she's more concerned about North Carolina's death rate or percent of positive cases. The positivity rate increased to 8.3 percent in recent days. Health officials have recommended states target a 5 percent positivity rate, which indicates a manageable spread of the virus.
Snip...
More at the link.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/527088-north-carolina-passes-5000-covid-19-deaths
❤ lmsp
Dr. Lara Boyd, TedX Vancouver, Neuroplasticity
Dr. Lara Boyd is a Neuroscientist and Physical Therapist at the University of British Columbia. She is a professor and has held a Canada Research Chair, a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Career Scientist award and been a Peter Wall Early Career Scholar. Dr. Boyd directs the Brain Behaviour Lab at the University of British Columbia. Her TEDx talk “After this your brain will not be the same” has over 25 million views. Dr. Boyd is an expert in mapping how behaviours, environments and experiences affect brain health and learning using techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging and non-invasive brain stimulation. To date this work has largely examined the impact of exercise and learning on neurobiology. In 2020 she will be a Wall scholar turning her attention to developing understanding of the importance of the arts for brain health.
https://www.centreforbrainhealth.ca/boyd-lara
❤lmsp
Covid-19 Update, County Alert System
North Carolina has implemented the COVID-19 County Alert System to identify counties with the highest levels of viral spread. It’s going to take all of us working together and taking the virus seriously this holiday season to avoid having to go backward.
Governor Cooper
Updated link, November 23, 2020
https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard/county-alert-system
https://governor.nc.gov/news/north-carolina-introduces-covid-19-county-alert-system
❤lmsp
And then there's the percentage of the population that is illiterate so there's that...
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), 21 percent of adults in the United States (about 43 million) fall into the illiterate/functionally illiterate category.Apr 29, 2020
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), 21 percent of adults in the United States (about 43 million) fall into the illiterate/functionally illiterate category. Nearly two-thirds of fourth graders read below grade level, and the same number graduate from high school still reading below grade level. This puts the United States well behind several other countries in the world, including Japan, all the Scandinavian countries, Canada, the Republic of Korea, and the UK.
The NCES breaks the below-grade-level reading numbers out further: 35 percent are white, 34 percent Hispanic, 23 percent African American, and 8 percent “other.” Nor is this a problem mostly for English Language Learners. Non-U.S.-born adults make up 34 percent of the low literacy/illiterate U.S. population. New Hampshire, Minnesota, and North Dakota have the highest literacy rates (94.2 percent, 94 percent, and 93.7 percent respectively), while Florida, New York, and California have the lowest (80.3 percent, 77.9 percent, and 76.9 percent respectively).
https://www.libraryjournal.com/www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=How-Serious-Is-Americas-Literacy-Problem
Covid-19 Update: Gov Cooper, 11-17 & Dr. Cohen, 11-18
Governor Cooper 11/17/2020
Dr. Mandy Cohen, NCDHHS
https://video.unctv.org/video/covid-19-update-with-dr-mandy-cohen-november-18-2020-niyqse/
COVID-19 Update with Dr. Mandy Cohen
11/18/2020 | 26m 46s |Video has closed captioning.
The number of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and percent positive tests are at record highs. We ask why and what can be done about it as we talk with DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen. Also, Dr. Cohen discusses the new guidance regarding Thanksgiving gatherings.
❤ lmsp
The gall. Adding insult to injury!
Great job, standing up to that attempt at leveraging his male privilege.
You're absolutely entitled to your legal rights under the law and I would definitely stand firm in my decision to press charges. There needs to be a paper trail so the assisted living facility gets a heads up on her volatile personality.
❤ lmsp
Cars Take Over MoMA and the Detroit Institute of Arts
Cars Take Over MoMA and the Detroit Institute of Arts to Explore the 20th Century’s Most Iconic Machines
The two institutions are holding exhibitions dedicated to automobile design and the car's role in shaping culture.
BEN OLIVER
Can a car be art? The curators of two new exhibitions on the topic, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Detroit Institute of Arts, don’t make that claim. But cars were arguably the most iconic objects of the 20th century, and their designs can certainly be brilliant. The best go far beyond a pretty shape, or an intelligent packaging of mechanical components, to reflect and even represent the culture around them. Think of the tail fin and how it became easy visual shorthand for ’50s America.
So cars are certainly appropriate subject matter for major exhibitions, and it’s a pleasing coincidence for enthusiasts that two are slated to open this year. Detroit Style: Car Design in the Motor City, 1950–2020, now scheduled for November at the DIA, is, perhaps surprisingly for the city’s biggest museum, the first to address the automobile there in 35 years, with the exception of a 1996 photography show. It assembles a dozen concept and production cars designed in Detroit between 1950 and the present day, along with original, often exuberant sketches by Motor City designers and what curator Ben Colman describes as “a small and judicious selection” of paintings, sculpture and other objects that illustrate how deeply Detroit design is embedded in American popular culture.
“Choosing just a dozen cars from that entire period was enormously challenging,” he says. “The goal was never to tell an encyclopedic history of Detroit, but to pick a few of its key moments and most influential cars.” “We talked to as many car designers as possible to gauge that influence,” Colman adds. “It’s not the fastest or the biggest seller that we’re interested in here. It’s what designers see when they close their eyes or when they dream at night.”
To give the exhibition some visual coherence, Colman and his team decided to focus solely on coupes and sedans, and not the pickups and SUVs Detroit also makes and whose rise in popularity in recent years has had a greater social and environmental impact.
Snip...
More at the link.
https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/moma-detroit-institute-arts-automobile-exhibitions-2913376/
General Motors’ Firebird III, 1958, at the DIA. General Motors Heritage/Detroit Institute of Arts
Lincoln XL-500 Concept Car, 1952, designed by Charles E. Balogh. Collection of Robert L. Edwards and Julie Hyde-Edwards/DIA
❤lmsp
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayMember since: Tue Aug 28, 2012, 07:58 PM
Number of posts: 22,632