ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — North Carolina continues to expand resources in the fight against the coronavirus.
The state has collected locations for more than 300 testing sites statewide. As of Thursday, May 28, some 375,192 tests have been completed statewide. Testing location information is available on the Department of Health and Human Services website, which can be foundHERE. Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday also announced a new partnership with CVS for 55 drive-thru locations across the state. Those locations should be going up soon.
During Thursday’s COVID-19 briefing, Cooper also announced Community Cares of North Carolina has hired nearly all of the 250 contact tracers needed to follow up with those who’ve tested positive for COVID-19. The goal was to complete the hiring by the end of May and assign those hired to help local health departments across the state.
North Carolina has received a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to support job training and temporary employment opportunities. North Carolina’s Commerce Department, Division of Workforce Solutions requested $6,000,000 in assistance. They will now partner with Workforce Development Boards throughout the state. You can participate if you’ve been laid off as a result of COVID-19. The funds can be used for on-the-job training, temporary positions focused on COVID-19 or short-term training for workers to learn new skills that are now in demand.
North Carolina was one of the first states to take advantage of a new federal nutrition program called the Pandemic EBT program, or P-EBT. Families of nearly 900,000 children who receive free or reduced lunch are getting $350 per child to buy groceries. The program was scheduled to run through the end of the school year. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen has sent a letter to the state’s Congressional delegation urging them to extend the program, which will end soon, through the summer months.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly hard on the state’s 126 hospitals, creating financial instability. North Carolina has about 2,000,000 Medicaid beneficiaries. To help address challenges, NCDHHS has accelerated the timing of Medicaid payments that are annually paid to hospitals in the fall. It’s a total of $1.6 billion that will be paid to hospitals now.