COVID-19 Updates: June 25, 2020
|
|
|
|
Governor Cooper announces statewide mask requirement, Phase 3 of reopening delayed until July 17 |
|
|
|
|
|
Originally posted by ABC News 11, Jonah Kaplan, June 24, 2020 RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday issued a mandatory mask requirement across North Carolina and ordered a "pause" on easing any other restrictions as infections rates and the number of hospitalizations continue to climb.
The mask mandate will go into effect Friday at 5 p.m.Cooper, reiterated his vow to follow the science and trends and expressed hope that mandating all North Carolinians to wear a face covering could "stabilize" the spread of the coronavirus and enable the state to move into the next phase of reopening.The "Safer At Home" Executive Order, signed May 22, allowed restaurants, barbershops and salons, among other personal care businesses, to open with capacity restrictions. The order, which was due to expire on June 26, will now be in effect through the July 4 holiday and expire July 17.
Wearing face coverings has long been a part of what officials have dubbed "The Three W's", in addition to washing hands and waiting six feet apart. The new order now makes at least one part of that a statutory requirement, and follows mandates put in place in other cities like Raleigh and Durham.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unlike the City of Oaks, however, the Governor's mask mandate will be enforceable; retail stores, supermarkets, construction sites, manufacturing plants, meat processing facilities, personal care businesses and restaurants will all be susceptible to citations and other penalties if all employees--and their customers--are not wearing a face covering.
Law enforcement can also use trespassing laws to help businesses enforce the requirement when customers refuse to wear a mask.
There will be exceptions including children under 11 and people with certain medical conditions.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute on Infectious Diseases and member of the President's Coronavirus Task Force, testified before a Congressional panel this week and expressed concern about "additional infections" across the country and in North Carolina."When you have those kinds of increases, you must implement on the ground, as effectively as possible, the manpower, the systems, the tests, to do identification, isolation, and contact tracing to try and blunt that surge in cases," Dr. Fauci said in response to a question from Rep. GK Butterfield (D-North Carolina). "Hopefully that will be successful in blunting of those cases, because if not you have the danger of having gradual insidious increase and community spread which will be much more difficult to contain as the community spread amplifies itself."
Wednesday, the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut all announced a mandatory 14-day quarantine from states where the infection rate is high--including North Carolina.
|
|
|
|
|
|
For those in need of free masks, Orange County has distribution sites throughout the county. Please visit our webpage to learn more. |
|
|
|
|
|
El Centro Hispano is launching a 10-week communications campaign on COVID-19 |
|
|
|
|
|
Together with the North Carolina Hispanic media, El Centro Hispano is excited to announce the launch of the NC Unida Contra El Virus campaign which aims to send unified messages to the at-risk Latino community to raise awareness about COVID-19 and reduce contagion.
“We want to improve language access to key information about prevention and awareness in our community,” said Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, El Centro Hispano CEO and President. “This collaborative effort is critical when the Latino/Hispanic community is being disproportionately struck by COVID-19 infections in North Carolina.”
In fact, according to state health officials, as of mid-June, the Latino community made up just over 14,000 positive cases — 44% of the nearly 30,000 cases for which ethnicity is known. This is concerning since Latinos are only 9.3% of the state’s population.
The NC Unida Contra El Virus campaign will focus on several digital media initiatives in the next 10 weeks to amplify messages in Spanish about COVID-19 through social media, radio, and print media. The goal behind this collaboration between El Centro Hispano and the Hispanic media is to offer the Spanish speaking audience in North Carolina the opportunity to be better informed.
“We are aware that efforts to reduce COVID-19 diagnoses among Latinx residents had to involve more than information, however, the breadth of this campaign emphasizes our belief that a unified, targeted campaign effort will empower our community to fight against mis/disinformation related to COVID-19. Well informed citizens make better decisions,” said Rocha-Goldberg.
Participating organizations of the NC Unida Contra El Virus campaign, in alphabetical order, include Enlace Latino, El Centro Hispano NC, La Conexion, La Grande, La K Buena, La Ley, La Mega, La Noticia, Revista Latina NC and Qué Pasa NC. |
|
|
|
|
|
For more information on COVID-19 resources in Orange County, please visit our Spanish webpage. |
|
|
|
|
|
Talking to Children About Racial Bias |
|
|
|
|
|
Originally posted by Healthy Children, Ashaunta Anderson, MD, MPH, MSHS, FAAP & Jacqueline Dougé, MD, MPH, FAAP)
Given the tragic and racially-charged current events, many parents are wrestling with their own feelings, the hopes they have for their children, and the difficulty of helping those children thrive in a world full of racial bias.
Parents may better face today's challenges with an understanding of how racial bias works in children, as well as strategies to help them deal with and react to racial differences. |
|
|
|
|
|
How Do Children Learn Racial Bias?
Children learn about racial differences and racial bias from an early age and learn from their first teachers—their parents—how to deal with and react to these differences.
The process of learning racial bias is a lot like learning a new language (e.g., a child raised bilingual vs. a child who starts learning Spanish in junior high). Biology determines a critical early learning period as well as a later window where learning is much harder. - As early as 6 months, a baby's brain can notice race-based differences.
- By ages 2 to 4, children can internalize racial bias.
- By age 12, many children become set in their beliefs—giving parents a decade to mold the learning process, so that it decreases racial bias and improves cultural understanding.
But like language immersion, children exposed to society will gain fluency in racial bias even if their parents do nothing. |
|
|
|
|
|
Strategies to Help Children Deal with Racial Bias
There are three strategies that parents can use to help their children deal with racial bias: - Talk to your children and acknowledge that racial differences and bias exist.
- Confront your own bias and model how you want your children to respond to others who may be different than them.
- Encourage your children to challenge racial stereotypes and racial bias by being kind and compassionate when interacting with people of all racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.
|
|
|
|
|
|
How Parents Can Confront Their Own Racial Bias
Parents must first confront their own biases, so that their example is consistent with messages of racial and ethnic tolerance. - Be a role model. Identify and correct your own racially biased thoughts, feelings, and actions. If you want your children to believe what you preach, you have to exhibit those behaviors as well. Your everyday comments and actions will say more than anything else.
- Have a wide, culturally diverse social network. Encourage your children to have diverse circles of friends, as well. This lends itself to engagement in multicultural activities and experiences.
- Travel and expose your children to other communities. This can help them understand that there is diversity in the world that might not be represented in the community that you live in.
- Do not reverse stereotype police officers and other groups or talk about law enforcement in a negative way.
- Get involved in your child's school, your place of worship, and politics. Parents who are involved in this way are better able to advocate for fair treatment of racially marginalized groups and raise awareness of race issues in other groups.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tips for Talking About Racial Differences & Racism
Talking about race is not racist. It's OK—and important. From a young age, children may have questions about racial differences and parents must be prepared to answer them. But, it's important to keep your child's developmental readiness in mind. - For preschoolers: At this age, your child may begin to notice and point out differences in the people around you (i.e., at the grocery store, at the park, etc.). If your child asks about someone's skin tone, you might say, "Isn't it wonderful that we are all so different!" You can even hold your arm against theirs to show the differences in skin tones in your family.
- For gradeschoolers: This is the age that is important to have open talks with your child about race, diversity, and racism. Discussing these topics will help your child see you as a trusted source of information on the topic, and he or she can come to you with any questions. Point out stereotypes and racial bias in media and books such as villains or "bad guys" in movies.
- If your child makes comments or asks you questions about race based on school incidents or something they read or watched: Further the discussion with questions such as, "How do you feel about that?" and "Why do you think that?" This is also helpful if your child heard something insensitive or if your child experienced racial bias themselves. Before responding to his or her statement or question, figure out where it came from and what it means from his or her perspective. See Talking to Children About Tragedies & Other News Events for more information.
These conversations begin to lay the groundwork for your child to accept and respect everyone's differences and similarities. As children mature, the answers to questions will become more complex. These are moments to learn what your child understands or is struggling to understand about racial bias.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Remember:
To create a culture of inclusiveness, we all must look at and acknowledge our biases, so we can do something about the ones that are unfair or cause harm to others—like racial bias. Understanding the way people feel about and behave toward those outside their own group can help communities heal after a tragedy, as well as prevent future ones.
Additional Resources to Help Parents Address Racism & Discrimination: |
|
|
|
|
|
Supporting Local Black Businesses in the Triangle
|
|
|
|
|
|
For those interested in supporting local Black businesses, read more below about an upcoming event.
The Black Farmers’ Market gives the public a chance to support Black farmers in the Triangle, and to enjoy the wonderful products that they offer the community. It occur's bi-monthly, and the last location for the event was in Durham, NC.
The next Black Farmers Market takes place this Sunday, June 28th, 2020, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., at Southeast Raleigh YMCA,1436 Rock Quarry Road, Raleigh, NC.
For more information, please visit this link. |
|
|
|
|
|
North Carolina COVID-19 Cases
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) reports 57,183 COVID-19 cases, 1,290 deaths, and 891 hospitalizations, as of June 25, 2020. For more information regarding live updates (NCDHHS updates the site every morning at 11 a.m.), please visit the NCDHHS website.
Orange County Health Department also has a COVID-19 dashboard webpage, with information on COVID-19 data in the county. The dashboard will be updated every Tuesday and Thursday.
There are currently 578 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Orange County, and 41 deaths.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
COVID-19 Community Resources
For more information on COVID-19 community resources in the county, please visit our webpage. Resources on specific topic areas, such as food access, education, housing, and others, are all accessible on our website, or at the links below.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share via Email
