VOLUME 5 ISSUE 37
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2020
2020 election results at nsjonline.com the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
ECU announces furloughs for some employees Greenville East Carolina University is placing some employees on furlough, citing continued revenue declines during the coronavirus pandemic. Employees are being furloughed who work in departments that have experienced significant revenue declines in the divisions of Student Affairs and Administration & Finance, according to the university. “We continue to have to make hard decisions regarding the financial future for our university. Our current estimate for fall is more than $25 million in decreased revenue. And, unfortunately, there may be additional furloughs announced before the end of the fiscal year,” said interim chancellor Ron Mitchelson. NSJ STAFF
EU considering further legal action in Brexit standoff Brussels The European Union is considering stepping up its legal action against Britain over legislation that would breach parts of the legally binding Brexit agreement that the EU and the British government reached late last year. The fight over the government’s proposed bill continued as the two sides were deep in negotiations on a free trade agreement. A trade deal must be reached within weeks for it to be in place on Jan 1, when an 11-month Brexit transition period ends. “This dispute will have to be resolved,” EU spokesman Daniel Ferrie said. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Judge postpones Trump’s TikTok ban in suit brought by users Washington, D.C. U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone blocked an upcoming U.S. Commerce Department action that would have effectively banned TikTok in the U.S. by cutting it off from vital technical services. The Trump administration has said TikTok is a security threat, citing its Chinese owner, ByteDance, and the possibility that the Chinese government could spy on users. Trump’s executive order was set to take effect Nov. 12, but is now on hold as the lawsuit proceeds. TikTok said in a statement that it is “deeply moved by the outpouring of support from our creators, who have worked to protect their rights to expression, their careers, and to helping small businesses, particularly during the pandemic.” THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Eight counties chosen to test new Death Registration System Smithfield Craig Olive, Johnston County Register of Deeds, announced that Johnston County will serve as a pilot county for the new Electronic Death Registration System implemented by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Johnston was chosen along with seven other counties. NCDAVE will replace a manual system that often required the funeral directors to physically drive death certificates to multiple locations to obtain certified copies. “I am delighted to be a pilot county for the NCDAVE,” said Olive. “Our employees look forward to learning the new system and working with NC Vital Records to make it easier for families to obtain the death certificates they need to handle the business for their deceased loved ones.” NCDHHS expects statewide implementation of NCDAVE by June 2021. NSJ STAFF
GERRY BROOME | AP PHOTO
North Carolina votes Voters are assisted at a polling location at the South Regional Library in Durham, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
NC Pharmacy Board limited COVID-19 treatments from prescription circulation A recent study shows effectiveness of early therapeutic treatments By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Earlier this year, the N.C. Pharmacy Board imposed restrictions on seven medications that could be used to treat COVID-19. This restriction was ordered by state health officials at the onset of the pandemic in March. The N.C. Pharmacy Board (NCBOP) is made up of five members, including President Ashley Duggins of Prevo Drug, Asheboro; Vice President William A. Mixon, The Compounding Pharmacy, Hickory; J. Andrew Bowman, Campbell University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Buies Creek; Mischelle Corbin, a member of the public in Raleigh; Wallace Nelson, Vidant Bertie Hospital, Bertie; and Keith A. Vance, Lewisville Drug Company, Lewisville. According to the NCBOP website, on “March 24, 2020, the North Carolina Secretary of Health and Human Services and the State Health Director requested that the Medical Board and the Board of Pharmacy adopt the COVID-19 Drug Preservation Rule in order to alleviate shortages and ensure that these drugs are available to patients who need them.” The COVID-19 Drug Preservation Rule was first enacted on April 1 and then temporarily adopted on June 26. The rule lists seven drugs to be considered “restricted.” The drugs listed are Hydroxychloroquine, Chloroquine, Lopinavir-ritonavir, Ribavirin, Oseltamivir, Darunavir and Azithromycin. The rule states that a pharmacist “shall fill or refill a prescription for a Restricted Drug only if that prescription bears a
written diagnosis from the prescriber consistent with the evidence for its use.” Pharmacists are blocked from filling or refilling a prescription for one of the seven drugs unless a person has been diagnosed with COVID-19. It also says that when a patient has been diagnosed with COVID-19, any prescription of one of the drugs on the restricted list needs to indicate on the prescription order that the patient has been diagnosed with COVID-19, is limited to “no more than a 14-day supply.” There are also no refills on prescriptions, including emergency prescriptions, “unless a new prescription order is issued in conformance with this Rule.” The COVID-19 Drug Preservation rule does not affect administration order for inpatients of health care facilities. It also doesn’t apply to prescriptions a patient previously had for one of the restricted drugs on or before March 10, 2020. The NCBOP website reminds pharmacists that “while these drugs are being investigated as potential COVID-19 treatments, there is at this date only anecdotal evidence of their potential usefulness.” Recent studies on intervention treatments for high-risk patients which use several of the drugs on the NCBOP’s restricted list have shown promise. On Oct. 29, Dr. Vladimir Zelenko and his team announced their study on the early intervention and treatment of high-risk COVID-19 patients, saying use of the drugs resulted in “significantly fewer hospitalizations and deaths.” According to a press release about the findings, the treatment consists of “zinc, low-dose hydroxychloroquine, and azithromycin,” and has been referred to as “The Zelenko Protocol.” See TREATMENT, page A2
NC’s 2020 election defined by legal battles over absentee ballot rules Final state of rules decided by U.S. Supreme Court less than a week before Election Day By David Larson North State Journal RALEIGH — From early in election season to the very last week, North Carolina’s State Board of Elections, run by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s appointees, and the state’s legislature, run by Republicans, have fought a battle over multiple voting rules, leading to confusion for Tar Heel citizens trying to figure out how to vote during an already confusing election. After a ballot-harvesting scandal in the 2018 N.C. Ninth Congressional District elections, a bipartisan majority agreed to rules that tightened up absentee ballot
rules in the state. In late October of 2019, the legislature passed S.B. 683, Combat Absentee Ballot Fraud, 49-0 in the Senate and 111-1 in the House. The law increased penalties for violations of absentee-voting rules and added more restrictions on who could request absentee ballots and how they were to be filled and returned. Marc Elias, a lawyer who represented Democratic candidate Dan McCready in the Ninth Congressional race, ultimately helping get the election results tossed out because of ballot harvesting by Republicans, ironically then sued the state in May of 2020 to loosen the rules that were put in place because of that harvesting. Elias most notably demanded that no witness signatures be required on absentee ballots and See BALLOTS, page A2
Problems found with list of counties targeted for stricter COVID-19 ordinances At least 10 counties were left off the list, while some on the list likely shouldn’t have been included By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — An analysis of the counties that received a letter from N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen shows possible inconsistencies with who received the letter and who didn’t. North State Journal requested clarification from NCDHHS on how the counties were elected to receive the suggested ordinance and penalties letter. NCDHHS restated part of their letter, saying that the counties had to meet one of three criteria. The first criterion, however, is two items: A county that has had 300 or more new cases in the last 14 days and has been identified by the White House Task Force as a county of concern; County with a case rate greater than 50 cases per 10,000 people; Or a county that is one of the top three most populous counties in the state. An analysis of the counties the day after the suggested ordinance letters were sent showed that 10 of them did not meet the criteria listed by NCDHHS. None of the following counties which received a letter appeared to meet the criteria: Burke, Caswell, Chowan, Duplin, Graham, Greene, Hoke, Scotland, Watauga. These 10 counties may have been identified by the White
House Task Force; however, NCDHHS did not provide the list of counties identified by that task force. At the Oct. 29 COVID-19 briefing, Cohen was asked about the White House Task Force but sidestepped the question. Another 10 counties which were not sent letters actually did meet See COVID-19, page A2