VOLUME 5 ISSUE 22
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2020
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
CDC: Antibody tests show virus rates 10x higher Chicago Reported coronavirus cases vastly underestimate the true number of infections, U.S. government data published Tuesday suggest. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study says true COVID-19 rates were more than 10 times higher than reported cases in most U.S. regions from late March to early May. It is based on COVID-19 antibody tests performed on routine blood samples in 16,000 people in 10 U.S. regions. The study likely detected infections in people who may have had no symptoms or only mild illness, and who never got coronavirus tests. Infection rates were from six times higher than reported cases in Connecticut to 24 times higher in Missouri. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHRIS CARLSON | AP PHOTO
New chancellor takes over at UNC Charlotte
Schools opt for virtual start to school year
Charlotte The fifth chancellor at UNC Charlotte took over the role on Monday. Dr. Sharon Gaber said in a welcome video, “I’m excited to be in Charlotte, but most especially to be here on campus as a 49er. I look forward to meeting all of you — the students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends who make up Niner Nation.” Dr. Phil Dubois, who served as chancellor for 15 years, retired from the university on June 30.
Following Gov. Roy Cooper's announcement last week on the reopening of schools, districts across the state instead opted to start the year continuing to use remote learning. In Wake County over 78,000 students will be in the Viritual Academy, a fully online learning environment.
NSJ STAFF
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino employees test positive for COVID-19 Cherokee Health officials are investigating a cluster of coronavirus cases after five casino employees tested positive for the virus within two weeks. The Jackson County Department of Public Health says the cases were identified among Harrah’s Cherokee Casino employees who work in the table games section. Brooks Robinson, the casino’s regional manager, said no other employees or customers have been identified as having close contact with those who tested positive. The business reopened in late May with 30% capacity, social distancing protocols, a mask requirement for employees and daily staff health checks. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Trump excluding those in US illegally from reapportionment Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum Tuesday that seeks to bar people in the U.S. illegally from being counted in congressional reapportionment, a move that drew immediate criticism from Democratic officials. Trump said in the memorandum he had determined “respect for the law and protection of the integrity of the democratic process warrant the exclusion of illegal aliens from the apportionment base, to the extent feasible and to the maximum extent of the President’s discretion under the law.” The Census Bureau said last month that more than 90 million households had already responded to the 2020 Census. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
State announces delivery of PPE for agricultural workers Raleigh The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced 31 counties have been selected to receive the first deliveries of personal protection equipment to prevent and respond to COVID-19 outbreaks among the agricultural workforce. “I am grateful that farmworkers and farmers have been prioritized for these much-needed materials,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. NSJ STAFF
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
Dark-money funded political activism masquerades as journalism Courier Newsroom has pseudo newsrooms in multiple states, including North Carolina
NSJ staff
Revenue sharply down for many NC churches as 5th month of shutdown nears Online giving and PPP loans help prevent layoffs, closings
the same period last year, the diocese’s Finance Office reports.” The Charlotte Diocese said online giving has been able to replace plate collections as the main source of their collection, By David Larson with three-quarters of their 92 North State Journal parishes having implemented RALEIGH — When Gov. Roy these tools, but it has not been Cooper announced a statewide enough to match previous years. shutdown beginning March 30 Churches that have proactive campaigns reaching it effectively stopped out to parishioners by church services in mail, phone and oththe state until furer means to ask them ther notice and elimto give online are inated what is a main “Online giving having more success source of revenue for has increased than those who simmost churches, passply set up the online ing the collection over time as system without folplate. The restric- people have low-up. tions have since been The Charlotte Direlaxed, but many adapted to ocese highlighted the churches have not re- virtual Masses outreach efforts of turned to in-person and, in some Queen of the Aposservices, while others have reduced-capac- cases, returned tles Church in Belmont, which have “reity services. Online to in-person sulted in increased donations, as well as online giving, and the Paycheck Protec- Masses. to date, parishioners tion Program, have Church are giving at about 85 become lifelines for percent of the reguthese churches but offertory have not been able to overall remains lar collection amount before the pandemfully replace lost revsignificantly ic hit.” enue. While this 15% de“In the first month down, however, cline is a success stoof the COVID-19-re- from 2019 ry, other parishes in lated shutdown, parthe diocese are not as ish offertory in the levels.” fortunate, as “more Diocese of Raleigh — than a dozen parishthe largest source of John Dornan, dies have seen a steep any parish’s income decline in their week— was off 50% vs. the rector of commuly offertory amounts, prior year,” John Dor- nications for the receiving 50 percent nan, director of com- Roman Catholic or less compared to munications for the Roman Catholic Di- Diocese of Raleigh their collections in April 2019.” ocese of Raleigh, told The Episcopal DioNorth State Journal. The Raleigh Diocese serves cese of North Carolina told NSJ Catholics in the eastern half of it does not share financial inforthe state while the Charlotte Di- mation, but it did share that its ocese serves the western half. congregations “continue to gathInformation provided to NSJ er and worship utilizing a multiby Charlotte Diocese shows that tude of online methods,” and “no “over the first three weeks of churches in the Episcopal Diocanceled Masses, offertory col- cese of North Carolina are faclections diocese-wide are down approximately 40 percent from See CHURCHES page A2
RALEIGH — A dark money political action committee has been revealed to be the funding source for a self-described “progressive media company” that has spawned activism sites masquerading as news outlets in at least 14 states, including North Carolina. An extensive report from watchdog site OpenSecrets.org
shows that Courier Newsroom is funded by ACRONYM, a progressive dark money group that has an affiliated progressive PAC tied to it, named PACRONYM. The report, published in May, notes that “Courier has faced scrutiny for exploiting the collapse of local journalism to spread “hyperlocal partisan propaganda.” The report also indicates that the outlets and partners of Courier Newsroom look like “free-standing local news outlets” but are “actually part of a coordinated effort with deep ties to Democratic political operatives.” See JOURNALISM page A2
NCDHHS adds COVIDspecific hospital-bed data to dashboard By Matt Mercer North State Journal RALEIGH — On Monday, July 20, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) added additional layers of information about hospital capacity and hospitalization trends, both statewide and broken down by region. The new hospitalization data is intended to provide additional insight into North Carolina’s hospital capacity in the COVID-19 pandemic. The dashboard has been used for reporting high-level statewide data on hospital capacity, including the number of people currently hospitalized, utilization of inpatient and Intensive Care Unit beds, and ventilator availability, since it was launched in March. New hospitalization-related indicators added to the dashboard include hospitalizations by regions, trends in inpatient and ICU bed utilization over time, and a breakdown of hospitalizations by suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases. NCDHHS gets the information daily from hospitals across North Carolina. Some of the additional items NCDHHS has added include case and death counts searchable by county and ZIP code, case counts by date reported or date of specimen collection, and a county map of ongoing outbreaks in congregate living settings. North State Journal emailed NCDHHS after the Council of State meeting on Friday, May 22, where
NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said the dashboard data on the agency’s website did not distinguish between COVID and non-COVID See COVID-19 page A2