COVID-19
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Bob Peters Builds Up Garage Bar at Home While the Industry Idles
On a cold February evening, renowned Charlotte mixologist Bob Peters turns off the heater in his garage. He casts his iPhone screen to a 55-inch TV mounted on the wall and plugs a ring light into an extension cord. The professional studio light, which Peters scored for $35 on Facebook…
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Cooper Announces End to Curfew, Changes to NC COVID-19 Restrictions
During a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Roy Cooper announced the end of the modified stay-at-home order that was announced on Dec. 8, lifting a curfew that required most businesses to close at 10 p.m. and limited travel after that time. Cooper announced other changes to NC COVID-19 restrictions…
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COVID-19 Outbreak in Shelter Puts Quarantine Motel at Capacity
At first glance, the motel looks abandoned. The sign out front is empty. Cones block much of the entrance. Just a couple of cars sit in the parking lot. As I enter around the cones at 12:30 p.m. on a Monday afternoon, however, I see some signs of life.…
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Charlotte City Council Elections May Be Delayed Due to Census Setbacks
Questions arose during a Charlotte City Council meeting on Monday night about whether the council election and other municipal elections scheduled for this year will take place as planned or need to be delayed due to late results from the 2020 Census. In the midst of a discussion about the…
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Concord Sportscenter Asked to Follow Mask Mandate or Freeze Membership
A Concord Sportscenter gym is at the center of a second COVID-19 controversy in less than a year as a local mother has called on the business to cancel or freeze her membership until management can make it a more safe environment for her and her family. When Christina Smith…
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Report Highlights Disproportional Impact of COVID-19 on Minorities
“He’s never coming back,” Irlanda Ruiz of Charlotte remembers telling her 8-year-old niece. The girl’s father, Ruiz’s brother-in-law from Puerto Rico, was an essential worker who had contracted COVID-19 on the job. He died at age 41, and Ruiz struggled to tell his children why. Manolo Betancur, owner of Manolo’s…
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Mecklenburg County Point-in-Time Count Will Adapt in Pandemic
In a usual year, about 100 county staff members and volunteers would spend today preparing to hit the streets of Mecklenburg County to carry out the annual point-in-time count, a census of our neighbors experiencing homelessness in which staff and volunteers gather information through in-person surveys and deliver donated winter…
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Loopholes Lead to Confusion Over Mecklenburg County Vaccinations
As Mecklenburg County Public Health officials work to distribute doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, following a changing set of guidelines and groups put in place by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS), some residents remain confused as to who can get vaccinated when, leading to…
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Hospitals Face Staff Shortages as Coronavirus Hammers North Carolina
North Carolina’s hospitals are quickly filling up with patients stricken by the coronavirus, even as health systems in some of the hardest-hit regions — the Triad and greater Charlotte area — take steps to make room for a wave of new patients. The looming crisis is fueled by lack of…
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Carolina Pharmacy Provokes Response After Influencer Post Promotes Rapid Testing
As a local small-business owner who recently celebrated 10 years in business, Carolina Pharmacy co-owner Chi Patel has always struggled with how to spread the word about his company, and the pharmacy’s recent addition of rapid COVID-19 testing made that struggle all the more urgent. With six locations and a…
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Detainees Report Outbreaks, Excessive Force at ICE Detention Facilities
When Roberto Blanco-Gonzalez experienced the first symptoms of COVID-19, he was fearful to tell anyone. A detainee at Stewart Detention Center, an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Georgia, Blanco-Gonzalez did not want to be placed in solitary confinement — the designated quarantine location for detainees like himself. …
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Many in Mecklenburg County Still Face Crisis Despite Eviction Moratorium
Tasha Baker was a young, single Black woman working full-time at a medical center when COVID-19 hit. Already at high risk of getting exposed to the virus, she and her coworkers saw their hours cut so as to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Paying her bills, buying food, and…
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Gov. Cooper Announces Updated Executive Order for North Carolina
At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Roy Cooper announced an executive order for North Carolina that will close most restaurants, bars, retail establishments and other businesses at 10 p.m., with on-site alcohol sales ending at 9 p.m. each night. The order takes effect at 5 p.m. on Friday…
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Man Held at Butner Dies of COVID-19 Before He Can File Suit Against Prison
John Dailey tried to sue over COVID-19 conditions at his prison, FMC Butner, but he died before his case could be filed. Butner Correctional Complex, a sprawling facility about an hour outside Raleigh, is North Carolina’s only federal prison. More prisoners have died of COVID-19 at Butner than at any…
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English Learners at CMS Feel Disconnected During Virtual Schooling
Ruby Orduna knew the 2020-21 school year would be difficult for her two sons, both enrolled in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS). As native Spanish speakers and English Learners (EL) in CMS, the two boys learn the language best through play, experience and social interaction. After March 13, those key learning components…
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Charlotte Museums Begin to Reopen As Governor’s Order Allows
The dinosaurs got away but Catherine Wilson Horne is moving on. When Discovery Place Science in Uptown Charlotte closed last March, the museum had to shut down a major blockbuster exhibit on Antarctic Dinosaurs, Horne says. The crested Cryolophosaurus and its saurian companions are now on their way to the…
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