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NCDHHS announces changes to COVID-19 response as pandemic ebbs

88.5 WFDD - Public Radio For The Piedmont | By Neal Charnoff
Published April 3, 2023 at 10:24 AM EDT
Among changes being instituted by NCDHHS, North Carolina residents will need to retrieve their COVID-19 vaccination records from their provider, pharmacy, or local health department. ESTEBAN FELIX/AP

Among changes being instituted by NCDHHS, North Carolina residents will need to retrieve their COVID-19 vaccination records from their provider, pharmacy, or local health department.   ESTEBAN FELIX/AP

COVID-19 will no longer be considered a federal public health emergency as of May 11. With that in mind, North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services has announced some changes to its response efforts. 

The changes are being made as COVID-19 evolves into a routine part of public health and health care activities.

NCDHHS ended services at community testing sites on March 31, citing the widespread availability of home-testing kits.

While the state will continue to monitor cases, those metrics will be incorporated into other respiratory illness data. A new summary dashboard will list respiratory-related visits to emergency departments, hospital admissions for COVID-19 and flu patients, and wastewater surveillance statistics.

For now, the state will continue to update vaccination data monthly, but that information will be phased out May 31. The data will continue to be available through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Also, starting June 1 North Carolinians will no longer be able to access their COVID-19 vaccination records through NCDHHS, and instead must contact their individual providers. 
Tags
Health & Safety COVID-19CoronavirusNCNorth Carolina Department of Health and Human ServicesNCDHHS
Neal Charnoff
Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.
See stories by Neal Charnoff

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