The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is seeing a sharp increase in COVID-19 clusters among school sports teams. For the period between July 1 and Sept. 2, 2021, clusters among school sports teams accounted for 45% of all clusters in North Carolina middle and high schools, despite most school sports activities not beginning until August as schools began the fall semester. School sports teams are urged to follow NCDHHS guidance for youth sports.
The White House and FEMA have granted Governor Roy Cooper’s Aug. 27 request for a major disaster declaration for seven North Carolina counties that were hit hard by floods after Tropical Storm Fred.
Governor Roy Cooper has proclaimed September as Deaf Awareness Month to celebrate and raise awareness about people who are Deaf and belong to a cultural and linguistic community, with shared language, social norms, rules of behavior and history. This year commemorates 70 years since the first congress of the World Federation of the Deaf, which was held in September of 1951.
Attorney General Josh Stein and Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler today urged U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to make eligible farmers for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The PSLF program forgives the remaining loan balance of a Federal Direct Loan borrower who works for 10 years in a public service job while making loan payments relative to their income.
North Carolina is sending National Guard personnel to help Louisiana after the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Ida. The 113th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion (CSSB) Headquarters from Lenoir is deploying approximately 65 personnel to the Gulf this week.
Additional federal unemployment benefits are scheduled to expire on Sept. 6, as the pandemic emergency employment compensation and pandemic unemployment assistance programs are ending. These programs are paying an additional $300 a week to eligible unemployment applicants. Many feel that the extra payments are preventing people from returning to work. In fact, a majority of states have already ended the extra benefit for workers prior to the programs’ termination next week.
Unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) decreased in 99 of North Carolina’s counties in July and remained unchanged in one. Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 9.1 percent while Avery County had the lowest at 3.5 percent.
More than 180,000 North Carolina households are getting critical assistance affording high-speed internet service thanks to a federal relief program that helps families in need pay internet bills and fully participate in the digital economy.
The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annual report on the long-term financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds. The combined asset reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI and DI) Trust Funds are projected to become depleted in 2034, one year earlier than projected last year, with 78 percent of benefits payable at that time.
Governor Roy Cooper signed Executive Order 229. The Executive Order extends several provisions outlined in Executive Order 224 that direct the State Health Director to issue statewide standing orders for testing and vaccination. Additionally, this Order directs cabinet agencies to implement the COVID-19 vaccination and testing policy developed by the North Carolina Office of Human Resources (OSHR).
