Press Releases

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has selected two medical testing vendors with experience operating K-12 testing programs, MAKO Medical and Concentric by Ginkgo, that will be available to provide COVID-19 testing services to all North Carolina schools. In accordance with CDC guidance, K-12 schools are strongly encouraged to participate in the StrongSchoolsNC: K-12 COVID-19 Testing Program and require students, teachers and staff wear masks indoors in all K-12 schools.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ vaccine data dashboard now includes county-level vaccination information from federal providers, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Prisons and Indian Health Service.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has begun issuing $413 million in food assistance payments to an estimated 1.1 million eligible children through the Summer Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer food assistance program. Children who are eligible for the summer receive a one-time payment of $375 on their family’s P-EBT card.

As part of its effort to help more North Carolinians protect themselves against COVID-19 and the highly contagious Delta variant, North Carolina is now offering $100 Summer Cards at some vaccine sites across the state to offset the time and transportation costs of getting vaccinated.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is expanding the COVID-19 Community Health Worker program, bringing it statewide.

North Carolina received more than $4.9 million federal funds for small rural hospitals in the state to provide COVID-19 testing and mitigation, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced today. The program will provide increased COVID-19 testing to rural populations ensuring an equitable distribution across the state.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the state has surpassed 1,000 reported cases of hepatitis A associated with a national outbreak that began in April 2017. 63% of cases have required hospitalization and 16 people have died.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the selection of seven organizations to serve as Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disability Tailored Plans (Behavioral Health I/DD Tailored Plans). Individuals who need certain services to address a serious mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, severe substance use disorder, intellectual/developmental disability or traumatic brain injury may be eligible to enroll in a Behavioral Health I/DD Tailored Plan.

After months of decline, North Carolina is experiencing a rapid increase in COVID-19 spread among those who are unvaccinated. Yesterday, 1,998 cases were reported to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and 817 people are hospitalized with 132 admitted in the past 24 hours. There have been 9,053 cases reported over the past seven days compared to 5,441 cases in the preceding seven days — a 66% increase — and hospitalizations doubled since July 9 and are at the highest rate they have been since the May 11.

Today, the North Carolina Healthcare Association (NCHA) announced its position approved by the association’s board of trustees supporting COVID-19 vaccination requirements for healthcare workers. NCHA also announced several of its member health systems intend to be first in the state to require COVID-19 vaccination for their employees, including Atrium Health, Cone Health, Duke University Health System, Novant Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health and the following UNC Health hospitals – UNC Medical Center, UNC Rex, UNC Johnston, UNC Chatham, UNC Rockingham and UNC Southeastern.