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2:46 p.m.
North Carolina officials are reporting 29,580 new cases for a total of 2,177,357 since the start of the pandemic.
A week ago, the case count was 44,833, but that number was so high because delayed results were added into the total.
The daily percent dipped slightly but remained above 30%. The latest figure was 33.3% compared to 35.9% the previous day.
Hospitalizaitons set another record, with 4,741 patients. That’s 52 more people than the day before. A week ago: 4,275 people were in hospitals because of COVID-19.
NCDHHS also reported 71 new deaths for a total of 20,108 statewide since March 2020.
2:12 p.m.
The Halifax County Health Department reports 1,113 new cases since Jan. 13 for a total of 12,057 positive COVID-19 cases since March 2020.
The death count remains at 150 or 1.24% of all COVID-19 cases in the county/
1:07 p.m.
COVID-19 testing at Optum Serve testing locations at El Centro Hispano, Wheels Fun Park, Durham County Memorial Stadium, and 414 E. Main St. will be closed Friday because of inclement weather. All sites will reopen Saturday at noon.
10:30 a.m.
Wake County received 200,000 N95 masks from the state health department and will be handing them out at five different locations across Wake County starting Thursday.
The CDC says N95 masks offer the best protection against the omicron variant, because they are tested and certified to filter out more potentially harmful things in the air.
Wake County Public Health will be giving out the mask at the locations between 8:30 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. on weekdays while supplies last. Masks will also be given out at testing sites and vaccination clinics.
UNC Chapel Hill’s student government has secured 10,000 N95 masks from the state and will be giving them out to students starting Thursday.
UNC will distribute the mask at the Great Hall lobby on Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Undergraduate and graduate students at UNC are able sign up to receive two free masks.
WEDNESDAY
2:11 p.m.
Starbucks, which employs 288,000 people in the U.S., is no longer requiring those workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, reversing a policy it announced earlier this month.
In a memo sent Tuesday to employees, the Seattle coffee giant said it was responding to last week’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 6-3 vote, the court rejected the Biden administration’s plan to require vaccines or regular COVID testing at companies with more than 100 workers.
“We respect the court’s ruling and will comply,” Starbucks Chief Operating Officer John Culver wrote in the memo.
Starbucks’ reversal is among the most high-profile corporate actions in response to the Supreme Court ruling.
1:32 p.m.
England is ditching many pandemic restrictions.
Face masks will no longer be mandatory in public places and COVID-19 passports will be dropped for large events as infections level off in most parts of the country, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday.
Johnson told lawmakers that the restrictions were being eased because government scientists think it is likely that the surge of infections prompted by the highly contagious Omicron variant “has now peaked nationally.”
While hospitals in northern England still are getting pressed by high caseloads and infections were still rising in schools, Johnson said hospital admissions and patients in intensive care units elsewhere in England were stabilizing or falling.
The government is no longer advising people to work from home, and compulsory face masks will be scrapped in secondary school classrooms starting Thursday.
Mandatory COVID-19 passes will not be needed to gain entry to large-scale events beginning Jan. 27. Face masks will no longer be legally required anywhere in England as of that day.
“We will trust the judgment of the British people and no longer criminalize anyone who chooses not to wear one,” Johnson said.
The news was welcomed by businesses, especially those relying on workers re-populating city centers, as well as hospitality and tourism.
Scotland and Wales, which set their own public health rules, have also announced similar easing of restrictions.
12:32 p.m.
NCDHHS reported 17,374 new cases for a total of 2,147,777 since the pandemic began in North Carolina.
It’s the lowest daily case count since Jan. 4 (10,276).
The Omicron variant continues to be highly contagious and the numbers bear that out as the daily percent positive set a record with 35.9%, surpassing the previous high recorded one day earlier.
On this day last year, the percent positive was 10.2%.
Hospitalizations also continue to set records. The total of 4,689 daily patients is the highest of the pandemic and beats the record set just one day earlier.
Also, 37 new deaths were reported, bringing the state’s total to 20,037.
Because of the high demand for COVID-19 testing, Wake County is opening yet another testing site.
Starting Monday, Highland Baptist Church at 8524 Crowder Road in Garner will join the list of testing sites around the county. This site was scheduled to open today, but we learned early this morning that its opening would be delayed to Monday.
Appointments will be available Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. You can make your appointment here.
Please click here for a full list of Wake County testing sites, so you can make an appointment for the site closest to you.
In addition, more Americans will soon have access to N95 masks for free.
ABC News has learned the White House will be taking 400 million masks out of the strategic national stockpile and shipping them to pharmacies and community centers starting at the end of this week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued new guidance suggesting people wear KN95 or N95 masks as opposed to cloth ones due to their effectiveness at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
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