This week North Carolina’s vaccine rollout will extend to frontline essential workers, including grocery store employees, meatpacking workers, and government employees.
Governor Roy Cooper announced that residents in Group 3 can start to receive the vaccine starting Wednesday. View a full list of eligible workers here.
The state plans to open a FEMA-supported vaccine site in Greensboro on March 10, which will distribute up to 3,000 vaccines a day. The state also expects to receive 80,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson’s “one dose” vaccine starting tomorrow.
“Our constant request for more vaccines have been answered,” Governor Roy Cooper said during a Tuesday press conference.
As of Tuesday, the state has administered more than 2.5 million doses of the vaccine. Among those, 60 percent of the state’s seniors have already been vaccinated.
Group 4, which includes residents with underlying medical conditions, will be able to sign up to receive a vaccine starting March 24.
North Carolina’s COVID-19 numbers have decreased and stabilized in recent weeks. The percent of people testing positive for the virus has dropped to 5.7 percent from a high of 18 percent earlier this year. The number of daily reported cases is also down–1,239 new cases were reported Tuesday, a fraction of the 10,000 cases a day the state reported during the post-holiday surge in January.
In response, last week Cooper lifted restrictions, including a 10 p.m. curfew and 9 p.m. cut off on alcohol sales.
“We know that progress is fragile,” Cooper warned. “We all must continue to wear our masks and have good judgment.”
The state has completed more than 10 million tests for the virus and reported 863,409 cases. As of Tuesday, 1,353 people remain hospitalized with the virus and 11,288 people have died.
Follow Interim Managing Editor Leigh Tauss on Twitter or send an email to ltauss@indyweek.com.
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