NORTH CAROLINA OPEN THREAD Sunday, September 19, 2021
331st Weekly Edition
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Covid data 9/19/2021 1:00pm EDT
Click here for Covid-19 data from Worldometer Real Time World Statistics.
USA
NC |
Total
Cases |
New
Cases |
Total
Deaths |
New
Deaths |
Total
Recovered |
Active
Cases |
1,330,492 15,615 1,202,974 111,903
WRAL, Ali Ingersoll, 9/17/2021
DURHAM, N.C. — Nearly 7,300 new coronavirus infections are reported a day in North Carolina, which is up 40 percent from a month ago. But the cases are hitting some groups harder than others.
According to data from the state Department of Health and Human Services, Black and Latino residents are disproportionately affected by the virus.
Latino residents, for example, have experienced 15,586 cases per capita, which is 82 percent more than the 8,553 cases per capita among white residents, according to DHHS data. Cases per capita among Black and Native American residents are 11 percent and 10 percent higher, respectively, than the rate for whites.
"I think it's a combination of the multi-generational households [and] a lack of access to health care prior to the pandemic," said Donald Hughes, program coordinator for We Are Ready for Life, a Durham nonprofit focused on improving the quality of life and economic opportunities in underserved communities.
"[It's] created a situation where there are a lot of pre-existing conditions that are exacerbated by COVID-19, which ultimately led to worse health outcomes for Black and brown communities," Hughes said.
CHAPEL HILL
UNC System officials and leaders of the individual system campuses have faced consistent pressure from some faculty and students to implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. But top leaders have not pushed for that, saying they don’t have the authority.
On Thursday, UNC System President Peter Hans defended the system’s position that it cannot legally require a COVID-19 vaccine at this time. He would not say whether he would want to mandate vaccines for students and employees if he could.
“I think it’s best left in the hands of public health experts,” Hans said in a press conference.
He then quoted a state law and said lawmakers clearly delegated the ability to add immunizations for children to public health experts through the North Carolina Commission for Public Health. And “that’s where those decisions best lie,” he said.
President Joe Biden announced new COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements for large private businesses and federal contractors last week. However, it’s unclear how that will affect colleges and universities, and more guidance is expected. The vaccine mandate could have more impact on large research universities where faculty and staff work with the federal government.
BlueNC, 9/18/2021
Republican lawmakers in North Carolina wrote the state’s voter ID law with the intent, at least in part, to make it harder for Black residents to vote, a panel of state judges ruled on Friday.
“In reaching this conclusion, we do not find that any member of the General Assembly who voted in favor of (voter ID) harbors any racial animus or hatred towards African American voters, but rather ... that the Republican majority ‘target[ed] voters who, based on race, were unlikely to vote for the majority party. Even if done for partisan ends, that constitute[s] racial discrimination.’”
The ruling strikes down a voter ID law that lawmakers wrote in 2018, after voters statewide approved the general idea during the 2018 elections, on a ballot referendum for a constitutional amendment. That amendment passed with over 55% of the vote.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article254318478.html
NC Policy Watch, Rob Schofield, 9/17/2021
Be sure to check out this morning’s lead Capitol Broadcasting Company editorial on WRAL.com — “Truitt’s schools plan must embrace Leandro remedial order not dodge it” — and its powerful critique of state schools Superintendent Catherine Truitt’s new “Operation Polaris” plan for the state’s K-12 education system.
Truitt’s plan purports to chart a course for recovering from the pandemic and moving the state’s public education system boldly into the future, but as the editorial rightfully observes, it’s mostly a “glossy” “pablum of proposals” and a “gussied-up defense of the status quo” that ignores the elephant in the room: the Leandro court mandate that requires the state to meet its obligation to provide students with access to a sound basic education. This is from the editorial:
Its vision is severely limited and fails to take in the brightest guides so clearly present. There is mere passing reference to the landmark 1997 state Supreme Court decision that declared the state’s Constitution demands a “quality education for every child;” as well as the 2004 high court decision that declared the state had failed to provide adequate resources for “the opportunity for a sound basic education.” That 2004 decision also directed the assignment of a special superior court judge to monitor compliance.
Similarly there’s an isolated mention of “Wested” without any detailed reference to implementation of the consensus court-ordered plan, a comprehensive multi-year program to deliver on the state’s pledge.
Truitt’s vision doesn’t see Leandro. It doesn’t encompass the carefully crafted program top educators and advocates worked to develop. It ignores the quarter of a century that the state has failed to deliver its promise to our children, despite the findings and court orders.
NC Policy Watch, Rob Schofield, 9/17/2021
Zac Campbell paused suddenly and took a minute to gather himself, while colleagues shuffled toward him to touch his back in support. The emotion that can accompany the act of baring one’s soul in front of a phalanx of TV cameras, photographers, and notepad-bearing journalists on a controversial matter of public policy had briefly caught up with the veteran Wake County school bus driver. For someone who usually does most of his public speaking into a rearview mirror as he addresses a gaggle of energetic kids, speaking in public in front of the state Legislative Building last Friday was clearly a new and challenging experience.
After a few seconds, however, Campbell composed himself. He quickly made clear to the assembled audience the source of the emotion he was displaying: his passionate commitment to the children he serves and his deep frustration with the shameless cruelty of the state’s Republican legislative leadership.
The event at which Campbell was speaking had been organized by the North Carolina Association of Educators to protest the ongoing refusal of the General Assembly to pass a state budget that provides a living wage for school bus drivers. And as the compelling testimony offered by Campbell and his colleague, 20-year veteran Juneakcia Green, made clear, the current situation across the state is dire.
NC Policy Watch, Adrian Bardon, 9/16/2021
Vaccine refusal is a major reason COVID-19 infections continue to surge in the U.S. Safe and effective vaccines have been available for months, but as of mid-September 2021, only 65% of eligible American adults are fully vaccinated. In many areas, a majority of eligible adults haven’t taken advantage of the opportunity to get vaccinated.
In the U.S., polling on intent to get vaccinated shows a massive political divide. Counties that went for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election show higher vaccination rates than counties that went for Donald Trump. Attendees at the Conservative Political Action Committee’s summer meeting cheered the fact that the U.S. didn’t meet Biden’s July 4 vaccination goals for the country.
Politically motivated denial of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness tracks with a dramatic politicization of trust in science itself. In a survey conducted in June and July, Gallup found that the percentage of Republicans expressing a “great deal” or “quite a lot of” trust in science is down, shockingly, from 72% in 1975 to only 45% today. Over the same period, confidence in science among Democrats is up from 67% to 79%.
Facing South, Elisha Brown, 9/17/2021
A lawsuit seeking to restore voting rights to North Carolinians with felony convictions faced a setback on Sept. 3 when the state Court of Appeals stayed a lower court's August ruling that would have allowed people on probation or parole to register while the case moved forward. The lower court's decision would have immediately affected about 56,000 people who have lost the right to vote due to the state's felony disenfranchisement law.
The plaintiffs then turned to the state Supreme Court, which on Sept. 10 rejected their motion to allow probationers and parolees to continue to register while the case makes its way through the legal system. But it did allow those who registered between Aug. 23 and Sept. 3 to stay on the rolls.
Forward Justice — a legal services advocacy group based in Durham that serves as co-counsel on the case, which was filed by the Community Success Initiative, the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, Justice Served NC, and Wash Away Unemployment as well as individual plaintiffs — said in a press release that it was disappointed the Supreme Court didn't fully reinstate the total rights restoration injunction. But it's pleased that those who already registered can remain so.
Citizen-Times, 9/17/2021
U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn won't be charged by the Henderson County Sheriff's Office for having a knife on school property earlier this week, according to HCSO Public Information Officer Johnny Duncan. N.C. 11th District candidate Jay Carey shared photos on social media of a knife tucked underneath the seat of Cawthorn's wheelchair during the Henderson County Board of Education's Sept. 13 meeting.
The Super PAC FireMadison.com posted a picture of the handle next to an image of a knife made by the Mills River company Microtech. The handle looks the same as Microtech's "SBD" knife.
"Although unacceptable, occasionally a person inadvertently possesses a knife on educational property or other property where such possession is prohibited," Duncan wrote in a news release.
Thanks for reading and contributing, I hope you have a safe week.