COVID-19
-
Five Years Later, Pandemic Teens are Still Dealing with Trauma
It’s 2020. You’re 13 years old and in the seventh grade. Everyone is hooked on the nascent TikTok app and you’re dead set on learning the new “Renegade” dance. Charli D’Amelio is in, VSCO girls are out. You walk into your lunchroom one day to find that the main topic…
Read More » -
Council Member Tiawana Brown Indicted for Alleged COVID Relief Fraud
Charlotte City Council member Tiawana Brown is characterizing a federal indictment announced against her as “a political attack and a deliberate effort to interfere with her re-election and silence her voice,” according to a release sent out by the Beauty After Bars founder shortly before the indictment was announced Thursday…
Read More » -
Charlotte Man Pleads Guilty in $1.2-Million COVID-19 Relief Fraud Case
Charlotte business owner Glynn Paul Hubbard Jr. pleaded guilty Monday to fraudulently receiving $1.2 million in federal pandemic unemployment relief funds for himself and his customers, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of North Carolina press release. The 46-year-old “disaster relief loan consultant” was charged with wire fraud…
Read More » -
Atrium Health Announces New Restrictions, Mask Policies Amid Rise in Respiratory Viruses
Citing an increase in cases of COVID-19, flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and other respiratory viruses, Atrium Health today began implementing new restrictions on visitors and updates to its masking policy at its facilities. As announced in a release on Wednesday, visitors 12 years old and under will not be…
Read More » -
The Painful Pandemic Lessons Mandy Cohen Carries to the CDC
As COVID-19 devastated communities across the nation in spring 2020, a group of Black ministers in Charlotte made an urgent plea for more testing in their neighborhoods. Testing at the time “was outside of communities of color,” said the Rev. Jordan Boyd, pastor of Rockwell AME Zion Church. For Boyd,…
Read More » -
Ballantyne Business Owner Indicted for COVID-19 Fraud
[UPDATE (7/28/23): James Seidel has pleaded guilty to making false statements to the US government, a felony. In an agreement with prosecutors, Seidel may be sentenced to probation and fines for the false statements. If, for some reason, he doesn’t comply with the terms of the agreement he faces a…
Read More » -
Mecklenburg County Approves $99M in Second Round of ARPA Funds
The Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday agreed to pay out $99.4 million in pandemic relief money from the federal government to fund 75 local projects and initiatives. The unanimous vote for the spending marked the second round of funding from the $215.7 total Mecklenburg County received as part…
Read More » -
Amid the Trials of Long COVID, Glimmers of Hope at UNC Clinic
Charlotte’s Brooke Keaton and Pinehurst’s Tony Marks both lived orderly, productive lives two years ago. That was clearly reflected in their steady jobs and close family ties. However, their experiences with the long-term effects of infection with the COVID-19 virus have touched and, in many cases, devastated nearly every other…
Read More » -
What the Pandemic Showed Us About Juvenile Justice in Schools
As a former district court judge, N.C. Rep. Marcia Morey has seen firsthand how children can get entangled in the state’s juvenile justice system. The path from school to the courtroom is similar for many kids, Morey said. They skip school, break the rules or act out in class, prompting a…
Read More » -
COVID Testing Policies in NC Prisons Cause Confusion, Fear
As the most recent COVID-19 outbreak spread through the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women late this summer, the most pervasive feeling among those incarcerated was fear — fear that they would get sick, fear that they wouldn’t make it home, fear that no one on the outside really knew…
Read More » -
Reclaiming Personal Space in the Post-Pandemic Social Scene
As Phase 2 faded into Phase 3, I watched from the corners of different drinking holes and observed the ways in which patrons awkwardly stumbled back into the social scene, like newborn baby giraffes walking knees a-trembling. At first, folks were timid and kept a safe distance, but as…
Read More » -
Local Health Officials Respond to Halt in Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
In two separate press conferences Tuesday, officials with Atrium Health and Mecklenburg County Public Health (MCPH) addressed new guidelines handed down by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recommending local agencies temporarily pause distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine…
Read More » -
Gov. Cooper Updates NC Vaccine Schedule, All Adults Eligible April 7
At a press conference on Thursday, Gov. Roy Cooper announced updates to the NC vaccine schedule, allowing the remainder of Group 4 to become eligible on March 31 rather than April 7 as originally planned. This group consists mostly of essential workers who were not considered Group 3 frontline workers.…
Read More » -
North Carolina COVID Restrictions To Loosen Further as Metrics Fall
On Tuesday, Gov. Cooper announced updated North Carolina COVID-19 restrictions to take effect on Friday, March 26. The new rules expand capacity allowed at most businesses across the state and end the 11 p.m. cutoff for on-site alcohol sales. The new order goes into effect at 5 p.m. on Friday…
Read More » -
Charlotte Knights COO Talks Return of Minor League Baseball
Nothing signifies the end of winter and the beginning of spring more than hearing the words, “Play ball.” Minor-league baseball towns around the country never experienced that spring transition in 2020, as the Charlotte Knights and other teams around the county saw their season end before it could begin. On…
Read More » -
More People Made Eligible for Vaccinations Across State and County
Gov. Roy Cooper announced at a press conference this afternoon that all people who fall under Group 3 in the North Carolina COVID-19 vaccination rollout will be eligible for vaccinations beginning Wednesday, March 3, while the most high-risk members of Group 4 will become eligible on March 24. Earlier on…
Read More »
