Phillip Tarte was dismissed at the end of January 2021 after more than a year of complaints were waged against him in his role as public health director. (Port City Daily photo/Alexandria Sands)
NEW HANOVER COUNTY Days before the Covid-19 virus first rooted in New Hanover County, then-health director Phillip Tarte was on the brink of losing his job for the second time as his supervisor continued to levy accusations of incompetence.
It was March 2020, and Kathy Stoute, assistant county manager in charge of New Hanover County Department of Health and Human Services, wanted New Hanover County Public Health Director Phillip Tarte removed.
UNCW operations were scuffed last semester when dorms were thinned out in response to rising Covid-19 cases. This semester, university leaders hope a robust re-entry testing program will allow for consistency as students flock back to campus. (Port City Daily/Preston Lennon)
WILMINGTON â Students from N.C. and elsewhere will converge on UNCW this weekend as the university ramps up for its spring semester, the second time college students in Wilmington will return to campus amid the pandemic.
New precautions will be in place that were nonexistent in the fall, most notably, re-entry testing, which asks all students enrolled in on-campus classes to present a negative Covid-19 test after arriving. Students who donât show up with a negative test on paper will be given a rapid test onsite.
Folks line up at New Hanover County Health and Human Services to get the Covid-19 vaccination. (Port City Daily/Shea Carver)
NEW HANOVER COUNTY â Since the Covid-19 vaccine rollout began in New Hanover County, questions keep rising from the public on where to go to get the vaccine and when â not to mention what to bring, how to get an appointment, who will administer it, and what to expect overall.
What we know so far is that New Hanover County’s vaccination program could take up to nine months to complete. Multiple variables play into the mass distribution of the vaccines â from the supply rolling into the states from the federal government to how many vaccinators need to be in place as phases progress across each county in North Carolina.
NHRMC Physician Group Primary Care practices will start administering Covid-19 vaccines. (Port City Daily/File)
SOUTHEASTERN NC NHRMC Physician Group Primary Care practices have opened Covid-19 vaccine appointments for their patients 75 years and older, according to a press release from New Hanover Regional Medical Center.
The physician group has the vaccine available at multiple offices and locations, including New Hanover Medical Group, Coastal Family Medicine, NHRMC Physician Specialists Internal Medicine Specialists/Care Team, Wrightsville Beach Family Medicine, Pender Primary Care, and Jacksonville Primary Care.
New Hanover County Health and Human Services (NHCHHS) will provide 1,950 doses to start.
“By transferring a portion of our vaccines to the hospital, it will further Public Health’s efforts to get the vaccine to some of the most vulnerable in our community, as quickly as possible,” said Donna Fayko, director of NHCHHS.
‘Diddy’ delivers, chicken coops, New Year’s Eve restrictions: News from around our 50 states From USA TODAY Network and wire reports, USA TODAY
Alabama
Gadsden: The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alabama topped 2,800 this week, as recent days have shown a steady climb and new record high inpatient counts – 2,804 on Tuesday – as the surge in cases continues. Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the University of Alabama’s Division of Infectious Diseases director, said Alabama now is third in the nation in COVID-19 hospitalizations per capita, behind Nevada and Arizona. She said Alabama is sixth in the nation in the number of COVID-19 cases per capita, after falling out of the top 10. On Christmas Eve, the number hospitalized was 2,458 across the state; on Christmas Day and on Saturday, it was 2,516, according to statistics published by BamaTracker. On Sunday, the number rose to 2,631; and it jumped significantly by Monday, to 2,802 people hospitalized.