Category: Virus

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • On a hot July morning this week, volunteers wearing face masks sat in the backs of SUVs, trucks and station wagons pulled up to the shade of a wooden shelter, chatting and listening to music as they waited for a truck full of food to arrive. If not...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina will hold a free drive-thru mass COVID-19 testing site next month in South Hoke. Patrick B. Strickland, program manager for the department of energy, senior solutions program and community initiatives program, confirmed Monday that the Lumbee Tribe is coordinating the free testing...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff Writer • Hoke County has added about 80 newly identified cases of COVID-19 to its tally in the last week, and health officials also announced the seventh coronavirus-related death of a Hoke resident. Hoke County had 582 total known cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, according to the North Carolina...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Hoke County Schools plan to reopen this fall on a hybrid schedule that will see students attending in-person classes two days a week, with online-only learning an alternative option for local families. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday that the state would direct public schools to reopen...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Wearing a face covering in public is now mandatory in North Carolina. Citing rising numbers of hospitalizations and continued high numbers of newly identified cases of COVID-19, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order Wednesday requiring people to wear a face covering in public. The order...

Cape Fear Valley Health has been awarded $149,747 from the North Carolina Healthcare Foundation’s COVID-19 “Fill the Gap” Response Fund. The money will help fund three different needs within the health system.  The needs include behavioral health support for frontline healthcare workers, enhanced discharge support for underserved patients, and increasing nursing coverage to allow additional...

The city of Raeford’s Public Works department and water and sewer operations employees have all been tested for COVID-19, after a city employee apparently tested positive for the virus. Raeford City Manager Dennis Baxley confirmed Wednesday that there were concerns a city employee may have exposed coworkers to the virus. The situation specifically involved the...

Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center is in urgent need of volunteers to donate convalescent plasma to help treat area COVID-19 patients. Convalescent plasma is the liquid component of blood collected from patients who have recovered from the novel coronavirus. These patients develop blood antibodies against the virus, which might help  others fight the coronavirus...

Hoke County local government will receive over $1.14 million from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, the state announced today. The Coronavirus Relief Fund, part of the federal CARES Act, allocated more than $4 billion to North Carolina. The four largest local governments in the state with populations of more than 500,000 already received direct distributions of...

Back by popular demand, Cape Fear Valley CEO Mike Nagowski will hold another live Facebook community townhall to answer questions about COVID-19 and its effect on the community.   The question-and-answer session will air during the Making Rounds Live radio show on Tuesday, May 26 from 11 a.m. to noon. Viewers can watch and submit their...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • More than 300 people in Hoke County have gotten tested for COVID-19 at a free drive-through testing site provided through a Harris Teeter partnership. The site at Don Steed Elementary signed up at least 126 people for testing Friday, and tested 140 people Saturday and another 94 people...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Two Butterball employees – one who lives in Hoke County, and one who does not – tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Hoke County Health Department. The Health Department added Butterball to the list of food production companies in the area experiencing an outbreak of coronavirus. A...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • There were 139 known COVID-19 cases in Hoke County Thursday morning, including a six-month-old baby who is the daughter of a first responder. The most recently identified cases of COVID-19 in Hoke County include: A six-month-old baby girl, who became ill May 7 and tested positive May 12...

Anyone in Hoke can schedule an appointment to get a drive-through COVID-19 test thanks to a partnership from Harris Teeter. To schedule an appointment, go online to www.harristeeter.com/covidtesting and sign up. There is no cost for the test. The sign-up website was having technical difficulties Tuesday, but was working as of Wednesday morning. The site...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Hoke County was up to 127 total known cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, with free testing set to start this Friday thanks to a Harris Teeter partnership. The drive-through testing will take place each Friday, Saturday and Monday through May 30 at Don Steed Elementary School. The testing runs...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Hoke County added only three new known cases of COVID-19 to the local tally over the weekend, after several weeks of seeing larger daily additions. Hoke was up to 123 known cases of coronavirus Monday, as North Carolina entered its first full week of phased reopening. The most...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Hoke County was up to 120 known cases of coronavirus Friday, as increased testing capacity continued making it easier for doctors to identify patients with COVID-19. The most recently identified cases of COVID-19 in Hoke County include: A family of five including a 5-year-old girl, a 7-year-old boy,...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Hoke County was up to 107 known cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, with seven people from the county hospitalized with the illness. A 63-year-old man who began feeling ill May 1 and tested positive May 4 is the most recent person from Hoke hospitalized with coronavirus. He experienced difficulty...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Hoke County is up to 103 known coronavirus cases, including 23 people infected in an outbreak at Canyon Hills treatment center. So far, 14 Canyon Hills residents and nine employees – including six who live outside of Hoke County – have tested positive for the illness. The young...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • The number of COVID-19 cases connected to Hoke County continued rising Thursday, as health officials updated the count to 83 people who tested positive for the illness. Of those 83 known positive cases, 19 are at Canyon Hills child behavioral health facility on Turnpike Road. That includes 14...

By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • There won’t be any meal deliveries by school bus Thursday and Friday so Hoke County Schools can deep clean the cafeterias and buildings. Meals will resume Monday, May 4, Associate Superintendent Dr. Shannon Register said in an email. “Hoke County Schools will have a deep cleaning closure as...

Cape Fear Valley CEO Mike Nagowski will hold a live Facebook community town hall Tuesday to answer questions about the COVID-19 virus.    The question-and-answer session will air during the Making Rounds Live radio show on Tuesday, April 28 from 11 a.m. to noon. Viewers can watch and submit their questions on Cape Fear Valley Health’s...