Good afternoon, everybody and thank you for joining today's briefing as of today we have had 1 million 273 thousand 600 23 covid cases.

>> 6,290 new cases reported since yesterday.

3,815 people in the hospital.

And 15,004 people have died.

Sadly most all of the covid deaths that are now occurring.

Our preventable with the safe easy free vaccine.

I want to thank the millions of North Carolinians who stepped up to get one.

But we need more people to get vaccinated.

How many more people have to get sick and die because people don't get this miraculous God given affective and extraordinarily safe vaccine.

How many more people will have to witness the painful cruel death of a loved one.

To finally see that vaccines are the way out of this.

Today doctor Mandy Cohen our secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and human service will walk through the data to show our statewide covid trends.

The numbers aren't good.

Especially the number of people in the hospital and die.

We can't stress enough.

By far the most people hospitalized back covid right now are unvaccinated.

For the most part in the got to the hospital because of covid his large really preventable.

COVID-19 vaccines are continuing to do their job by stopping most of the severe illness and death.

Among those who had their shots.

And they remain our best to be in this pandemic.

And remember the safe and effective vaccines are available all across our state will guard lists of whether you have health insurance.

They are absolutely free.

If you're still unsure about getting one.

About get off social media and get on the phone with your doctor.

That's the best place for accurate medical information.

While vaccines are the best protection from COVID-19 effect a tree effective treatment is also available.

If you do get infected.

If you test positive and have mild to moderate symptoms.

I encourage you to talk with your doctor about the treatment of monoclonal antibodies.

They've been shown to be effective at preventing hospitalization and severe illness what you already have covid.

This shows how important it is to get a covid test.

Because this treatment has to be administered within 10 days from the start of symptoms.

And of course your doctor will make the final decision on whether monoclonal antibody treatment is right for you.

Last week I signed an executive order to make it easier to get monoclonal antibody treatment by increasing the number of places you can get it around the state.

North Carolina is also working with FEMA to set up several sites where this treatment will be administered.

We hope that by preventing covid positive patients from developing more severe illness.

We could save lives and take some of the strain off our hospitals.

They would like to ask doctor Cohen to present our data and provide other updates that code.

Thank you governor.

>> Before we jump into the data I wanted to take a moment to express my deep gratitude to all our health care workers.

They put those shots in arms, swap noses for tests administer the monoclonal antibody treatment the governor mentioned and care for the many people in our hospitals.

So much has been asked of our health care workforce and yet they continue to give.

Thank you.

One way we can all show our appreciation and lift some of the burden off of our health care providers is by getting vaccinated now.

Let's dive in and take a look at the data.

This first graph looks at people who come to the emergency department with covid-like symptoms.

It's early state action mechanism.

And you can see when looking at that yellow line it rose dramatically through July and August however, if you look at that far right there may be a glimmer of positive news for the first time since the summer the line looks to be leveling.

Next we look at covid cases this first graph shows you the trajectory of new cases each day since we had our first case back in March of 2020.

The peak in the middle of the graph is back in January of this year before vaccines are widely available.

Now I want you to look to the right of the graph and notice how steep that yellow line is in recent weeks.

This summer we have experienced the fastest rise in cases since the pandemic started.

Let's zoom in and look at just the last few weeks in terms of new cases.

So on this graph we're looking at cases from early July through today.

And you can see that our cases remain high.

And we're now averaging about 6,000 new covid cases each and every day for the past week.

This rapid increase is because of the Delta variant of COVID-19 which spreads much more easily than the original virus.

And it's leaving unvaccinated people very vulnerable.

Our case rates are highest for children, 17 and younger.

For the week ending September 4th.

They made up almost a 3rd of the state's new COVID-19 cases that's the highest percentage since the pandemic began.

We've seen some good news in terms of cases when it comes to our long-term care facilities with more than 80% of most residents vaccinated fewer of those residents are testing positive for COVID-19 even when there's an outbreak.

All right so next we're going to look at the percent of tests that are positive.

This graph also goes back to early July and looking at the yellow line are percent of positive tests has been above 10% since the beginning of August and that's well above our 5% goal.

As the governor mentioned anyone who has symptoms of covid or has been exposed to covid should get a test as soon as possible.

We have a treatment that must be given within 10 days of your first covid symptoms so getting tested early is really important.

While vaccines are our best protection from covid the treatment this monoclonal antibody therapy may reduce the risk of going to the hospital or forgetting severe symptoms.

And in good news.

We saw 73% increase in monoclonal antibody administrations during the last week of August compared to the week prior.

And you can learn more about monoclonal antibodies that COVID-19 that ncdhhs .gov backslash treatment.

Now on our next graph we look at day over day hospitalizations this graph also starts an or in early July and this trend is one of our most worrisome metrics you can see looking at the yellow line that this trend has increased rapidly.

Today we have more than 3,800 people in the hospital for covid and we are closing in on 2 straight weeks with more than 900 North Carolinians requiring an ICU are in intensive care unit bed.

This is the most we've seen and since the pandemic has started.

And now it's important to note that a 3rd of the people who are hospitalized right now with covid are under the age of 49.

Our hospitals are strained.

Hospital leaders doctors and nurses are pleading with people please get vaccinated to not only protect yourself from COVID-19 but help make sure that the hospital care is there for people who need it whether it's someone who has covid are needing cancer treatment a heart attack or life threatening health crisis treatment.

This next slide looks at what's happening at the local level.

This is a map from the CDC that shows a level of community viral transmission here in our state.

And as you can see all North Carolina counties are red with high levels of viral transmission.

That means everyone in North Carolina should be following the CDC guidance and wearing a mask indoors in public settings until more people are vaccinated and viral transmission decreases to moderate or low levels.

All schools should be requiring mask to keep everyone in school for in-person learning.

Okay so now let's look at our statistics around vaccination today, 59% of North Carolinians ages, 12 and older are fully vaccinated 62% of those 18 and older are fully vaccinated and 86% of those 65 and older are fully vaccinated I want to thank the millions of North Carolinians who have already been vaccinated and are protecting themselves, their communities and are children who cannot yet get vaccinated.

On our last slide here it shows the percent of population who are fully vaccinated by age groups and here you can see only 35% of children ages, 12 to 17 are vaccinated and only 40% of young people ages 18 to 24 are vaccinated now I encourage teens to visit teen backs facts .com to get information and resources they need to educate themselves about COVID-19 vaccines.

We're also working to make it easy and hopefully fun as possible.

For young people to get their shot.

Now through September 12th you can get your shot at care Owens.

They're giving people who get vaccinated their free ticket to their winter fest event.

You're with the hospital capacity severely strained we remain at a critical point in the pandemic.

To slow the spread of COVID-19 and protect ourselves and others.

We strongly recommend that you add layers of protection.

Obviously get vaccinated wear a mask when you're indoors in public settings get tested if you have an exposure you have symptoms of covid and then seek treatment early for covid.

I want to thank again, everyone who is doing everything they can to help us get through this moment and protect one another please talk with your family and friends who are not yet vaccinated help them to get accurate information and urged them to get their shot now asked them to join you in back seeing up and masking up.

Thank you governor.

Thanks doctor Cohen.

>> We're 18 months into this pandemic and almost 9 months into the time vaccines that come on the scene.

These infection rates hospitalizations and deaths are not what we want to be seeing.

The key to ending this pandemic of course is the vaccine.

There's still time to protect yourself.

And we all need to do our part to get the shot and talk with our friends and family who still hasn't.

At the beginning of this month as per my executive order.

State Cabinet agencies have started requiring state employees to verify that they have been vaccinated.

But the consequences of weekly testing and work wired masking for not doing so.

And I'm encouraged to see that many businesses in our state are also setting a strong example by requiring vaccines for their employees and their customers too.

This protects them from getting sick.

And it also protects our economy by keeping stores and businesses open.

And encouraging customers to come while preventing the harmful impacts of covid.

I encourage more businesses to step up and do this.

The more places you need a vaccine.

The more vaccinations will have.

The more people who get their shots.

The more we're protecting our children in schools, especially those who aren't old enough to be vaccinated.

First few weeks of school at brought excitement for children across the state as they return to their classrooms, their teachers and their friends.

But we know the first weeks of school have also brought more covid cases among schoolchildren which has led to some quarantines.

This has been and will continue to be especially true when schools don't have strong mask requirements in place.

At the time for our last covid press briefing 74 school district covering roughly 64% of our children statewide we're requiring mash.

Today we have a 109 districts covering more than 96% of children with mandatory mask.

That's a remarkable increase.

I'm glad so many districts have work with our state health officials and their local health departments to protect their students and their staff.

In order to keep our children in the classroom in person.

I urge school districts to keep mask requirements and other important safety measures in place as we continue battling this pandemic.

Also encourage school districts to take advantage of the free testing that's being offered.

These tests can be used in schools to diagnose students with symptoms or even screen students and staff to catch covid infections before they spread.

We know that keeping kids learning in the classroom is the moist and most important thing for our students right now.

Getting vaccinated wearing a mask in public indoor settings in following the science is what we all need to do.

The faster we put this pandemic behind us the sooner we can all rest easy and stay healthy.

Also with me today is our North Carolina director of emergency management will Ray Monica mcghee and lee williamson our sign language interpreters and behind the scenes, Jackie and jasmine the TV are our Spanish language interpreters.

I know we have some reporters here in the room and I will recognize them first and then we'll go to people who are on the phone.

>> Governor Brian Anderson here with the AP had a one per destaco in person and a cake too quick for you.

Can you sort of explain what the current policy is on virtual learning in North Carolina and what the thought process was back on July 21st when that requirement for virtual learning the district was removed.

>> Yeah, thanks Brian for that question so in our strong schools tool kit.

If there are protocols in there to make sure that our students can be in the classroom learning safely.

We know that in person learning is so important for our students.

And we now know so much more about how we can keep them safe and in the classroom.

So our school tool kit really focuses on ways to keep kids in the classroom, so it certainly is saying things like schools must require masks particularly with this level of viral spread.

And we're glad to see nearly every school district in the state has heeded that advice and now have mask mandates all but 3 districts.

So I think they're heading in the right direction and we're protecting our students so they can be in person for learning.

And so that we can cut down on skids being out of the classroom for any quarantine kind of purpose.

So our focus has been to keep kids in the classroom and keep them there safely.

Thank you had a couple for governor really quick.

>> I've spoken with parents and Union County were last week one in 8 kids were under quarantine that's one of those 3 districts.

In the vast minority that is not requiring masking as a result longer quarantine periods.

But because there's no requirement for districts to offer a virtual learning option as they had in the spring.

This is causing 10's of thousands of hours of learning loss.

And I've talked to parents who said they sent you emails and have called on a petition for you to step in just what's your response to them.

Well certainly I will look into that I'm not sure that.

>> With the state law as it is now that you can put in a virtual learning option.

But I will look at that and this is a look into that request on on mask requirements what what we have found here is that.

Local boards of education superintendents principals and teachers are educated about the science about this and they have to make the decision on local mask requirements.

We have found.

That to be more effective we've been found for enforcement and compliance to be more effective.

And that's why we're working.

So closely with them providing health information to them about it, I hope that Union County I know that was a close fight, I hope they will change their mind on this and move to a mandatory.

Mask mandate there in order to protect students.

We have more than 96% of our students covered and we'll continue working with them.

>> There's only 3 holdouts and more than 4 dozen have already reversed of course and 98% are covered now under the mask mandate.

But having said that they're still these 3 holdout, one of them is the says 6 largest school district in the state.

What do you say to parents right now who.

Just want to get their kids back in the classroom.

What leverage does the state have been kind of forcing the board's hands if that's the option you guys want to go so all options remain on the table for us what we're doing now is working closely with our local school boards and our superintendents.

>> To keep our students safe and so far that has been the most effective and will continue working with Union County and other counties to make sure students are safe as possible.

>> I Don far the newsman Sir, I'm kind of going off a brass question about the mask and schools with the you know city Raleigh has the mask ordinance and other cities do is that something that you want to keep living up to the local governments or is there any consideration on bringing back an indoor mandate statewide.

>> So we are laser focused on getting people vaccinated we're spending a lot of our time encouraging businesses working on our state employee.

Requirement of vaccinations making sure that vaccinations are available all across our state.

It's pretty clear that.

>> People know that it's important to wear a mask indoors.

The CDC has been recommending it we've been recommending it.

>> We encourage local governments to put mandates in place we clerk encourage businesses that when their customers come in.

We think they're going to get more business if they require people to wear masks because people will feel safer when they go in.

But we're going to continue working with them all options will remain on the table.

Right now I think we're doing the things in using our authority in the most effective way like.

Waiving regulations to get more vaccinations out to move monoclonal antibodies in different places across the state.

And I think that that what we've done so far is the most.

Effective use of the governor's authority in this situation.

>> Other states of required teachers to be vaccinated is that something that you would consider state why I know you've been asked this before and said it you know the local level for that is that something you still think should be at the local level as fars a requirement for vaccinations for teachers again I will say that all options remain on the table one of the reasons that we move teachers up.

>> And vaccination priority is because we news important for them to get it.

And right now we move to have state employees in Cabinet agencies required to get to verify that they've been vaccinated you know I hope that local school systems will move toward this.

I hope more teachers will understand that it's really important to protect their students for them to get vaccinated is also important to protect themselves.

>> A question for doctor Cohen you know there have been public complaints about you know large college football games with everyone outside is there any concern with mass outsiders that not as much of a factor because it's outside.

Well, we know that this virus spreads more easily when you are indoors in close contact for a longer period of time so.

>> Outside the risks are lower, but they're not 0 this virus can still spread outside.

So we are focusing our attention really on making sure folks when they're inside that they're wearing masks all the time when you're outdoors we still recommend that you think about layers of protection, vaccine still is going to be the thing that's going to protect most of us most of the time that's why the governor myself we're spending our time talking about vaccines and why they're so important but layers of protection are important here as I mentioned thinking about wearing a mask, particularly if you're doing an outdoor event with with a lot of people or if the activity itself is more risky so if you're doing something where you are shouting singing where year you're doing a lot more heavy breathing and those are the Times where you're going to want to wear a mask because risk can increase in that and that case so get vaccinated absolutely everyone need to get vaccinated as soon as possible, wearing a mask indoors for everyone of course and then when you are outside there are still risks so if you are in some in a setting with a lot of people are you're doing a high-risk activity to wear a mask outdoors as well do you think there should be rules around it or be up to the individual choosing what their risk factors.

Well I think we've all learned a lot about the 3 W's I think everyone's heard us say it so many times they still apply here and so we're going to continue to encourage folks to think about their their own risk and what they're doing and to wear a mask to protect themselves and others.

Thank you thank you.

>> Hi governor.

Just aren't on the same thing.

First are you planning to go in the college football games.

>> I may very well, but I'll tell you this vaccination effort we're putting on his keep me pretty busy you play I watch him on TV are you going to go to the fair.

I may very well go to the fair usually go everywhere year so I plan to do that.

So with all these things coming up covid is not going to deter you from coming to these events no it won't I'll tell you what though if I go I'm going to be careful if I'm around a lot of people even outside.

I have a mask on.

And I'm not immunocompromised I think everybody has to look at their own situation and make decisions for themselves.

Particularly people who have not gotten a vaccination this is a real problem for them to be out in large crowds and to be in places where they are not wearing mask and people who are vaccinated certainly are better protected there.

We've been here before and you've said that all options remain on the table I guess my question is what are you waiting for because for 18 months at least 18 months ago.

>> The talk was we're doing all these restrictions, the executive orders about flattening the curve.

There's no flat curve in fact it's kind of out of control now and the hospitals are overwhelmed.

We're not seeing any we're seeing things now that we have seen many months.

So if the whole idea of the restrictions were to flatten the curve and now there's a huge curve why not bring back restrictions.

18 months ago we did not have vaccines.

Now we do.

Now many more people across our state are protected from this virus and we're getting more and more people vaccinated every day.

>> That's what's going to work.

That's where we're going to continue to be laser-focused and we also want to do things that people are going to pay attention to and that people are going to a Bay.

And I think it's important that we not put things into place that's going to detract from.

The effort to get more people vaccinated which is what we want to do right now we want to have everybody coming together businesses and others to step up and we're seeing more and more people to do that.

>> One of the things that we learned about vaccinations was the low rate among the teenagers are the tweens and teens 12 to 17.

I'm sure you'd like to think they're watching right now they're in school I'd like to think they watch the news or read the news they probably don't so what's the game plan for actually reaching that segment of the population.

>> It's really important is one of the reasons why be been working with schools with universities to get the message out that young people need to get vaccinated doctor Cohen you may talk a little bit about some of the efforts the department is undertaking.

>> Thanks governor.

Thanks Jennifer.

The question.

Yes, we are wanting a very much reach a teenage audience, I'm just a couple weeks ago I was doing a fireside chat with some tiktok influencers we have our team back specs and we have partnerships like as I mentioned with carowinds and others who we know are reaching are are young adults in our teenagers because we want them to understand this for themselves understand why getting vaccinated isn't just about them.

It is really about their community and about their family their friends maybe their grandparents and continue to protect everyone.

So we want them to get their own good information make sure they know where that is so we're trying to make sure we're reaching them where they are probably not on this news program like I said, but on on whether it's a social media platforms or in the places in which there are gathering so we're trying to reach them.

I do want to address if I could just one other thing in what you get when your earlier questions you know I want to praise.

Our health care workers again and particularly our hospital systems who are strained.

But I would not call them overwhelmed and it's because I think of the collaborative partnership between the hospitals that I think that we have been able to respond to this pandemic so well that they've been able to continue to take in patients that that anyone who needs a hospital bed and see to see a doctor and a nurse is going to have one.

I think we we need to keep up this effort of making sure people get treatment and vaccines.

And all the efforts but I I do want to say I'm I'm I'm very proud of the work that the hospital systems are doing to make sure that they they remained strained but not overwhelm to the we can care for folks, thanks.

>> Thank you for patients and thank Michael I still have more about hospitalizations yes, it's really the other one who knows.

It's really annoying that we have these quarantines in school.

I'm sure it's annoying for the students, the parents, the teachers but are these kids going to the hospital we have all these clusters are they going to the hospital or are.

Thank God.

We just have a lot of kids that are getting sick which happens in school.

When there's not covid so what do we know about the let doctor Cohen address this specifically but we know more and more of our children are are going to the hospital.

>> And that's deeply concerning the go ahead.

>> Thanks governor.

So first a couple of things about about quarantine itself with our students.

So we already know that if there is an exposure but both of the students or the teacher and the student are both wearing masks and quarantine is not necessary so that is good.

Though we are seeing more viral spread in those under the age of 17 as I said for the first time a 3rd of our cases were in in.

Our children who are under 17 and we are seeing more cases go to the hospital, it's still luckily, a small percentage of our overall hospitalizations are children but we're definitely seeing more children in the icy me needing ICU level care and it's particularly those children that likely have some underlying medical conditions in addition, asthma or other severe.

Types of medical conditions when they get covid in addition.

It does it does make them quite sick.

As always covid luckily has not been as severe for our kids as it has been for adults but only just see the amount of viral spread where there is Bergen is C more kids get sick more kids unfortunately get severely sick and so what we all need to do is work together to make sure we can get less virus circulating around and the best way to do that is for us all to get vaccinated thanks politically active.

We've seen reports today that President Biden is going to be mandating vaccinations for federal workers without the testing option are you considering doing the same thing for state employees under your authority are you going to stick with the current policy.

>> First I'm glad to see the president making this requirement for federal employees.

It's going to take.

At least 45 days for them to ramp up to set up the verification process which we have been doing now for weeks to be able to know who is vaccinated who is not whether there is a medical or religious exemption and putting all of that into place.

We want to see how this works we believe that this is getting more state employees to step up and get vaccinated so we'll look at what the feds do over the next couple of months, this is going to take them a while to ramp up and we'll see how effective our verification requirement is for state employees.

The idea is to get more shots in arms.

But right now since our state verification requirement has just taken effect.

We want to see how this works and continue to encourage people to get vaccinated so no plans imminently at least to make it not not at this point no not at this point do you all know yet what percentage of state employees are here authority are vaccinated we don't know yet but will be able to provide that to you in a week or so because right now state agencies are downloading their information that I think the system went live on September the 4th but a lot of a lot of that information is being gathered and I will have a report in a week or so about how many state employees have verified that they've been vaccinated and where we are with that situation and one last question I have is related to the incentives that the state was offering previously to get vaccinated the one I heard the most positive feedback about was the cash card program, particularly that it helped people to take time off work pay for child care.

>> Are you considering bringing that back.

Since there were people did want to take advantage of that we may very well not going to talk about that.

>> Thanks Michael we did sunset the program as of the end of end of August.

But yes we have heard that that has helped and motivated folks but also we recognize that to get your vaccine.

You have to take time off or work.

And when you're not at work for a lot of folks are not getting paid and they need transportation costs.

We recognize that there is a value at there so we definitely think we will have pockets of where that will be available on unclear if it's going to be across the whole state or just in certain places we're looking at that right now.

Thanks.

>> Yeah, Adam Owens, WRAL news you mentioned earlier governor that there is increased concerned that the youngest among us are starting to more and more show covid sickness.

What level is that concern and do parents need to be we're starting to see it pick up now do parents need to prepare themselves that we will continue to see an increase in covid in our children that are going to let you address that.

>> So a couple of things that would say about covid and our kids first as we've always seen.

Luckily covid seems to be less severe in our children that it is in our adults.

However, there is a lot of that virus circulating in our state and that virus is really going to those who are unvaccinated and we know that every child under the age of 12 is unvaccinated and I showed some data earlier about our low as vaccine rates are in our 12 to 17 year-old right so our kids are the most unvaccinated this virus in seeking out the unvaccinated so we are seeing a lot more cases in those that are 17 and under but again it is they are often less severe cases.

But there is always a spectrum right there going to be cases where some kids have a very simple cold and other kids have our get really sick and it's not always clear which which kid is going to fall into what category and that's why we all have to work together to make sure they were lowering that rate of viral spread we're all getting vaccinated were all wearing mask doing the things that we need to do I will say is a parent of 2 children who are unvaccinated I've a 79 year-old they also go to the wake County schools, I feel good about them going to in person school when we're using those safety protocols.

So as a mom as a doctor as that the.

But public health lead for the state of North Carolina, I feel very good about that we're doing what we need to when our schools are following those safety protocols that our kids can be an in-person learning can be safe.

And and can be protected, but we all need to work together to get this level of virus down in North Carolina, it's way too high.

We all have to get vaccinated work together and doctor Cohen of.

>> It doesn't take much it appears for these cases to overwhelm the pediatric ICU numbers we have talking some hospitals today who say that there have been times among and we have a lot of really big hospitals in this area there been times where the pediatric ICU number of beds and all of the triangle of been maybe just a couple.

What are your concerns there.

>> Well, I think that speaks to the fact we we know that kids get sick less often overall from all types of viruses and illnesses so there are just less pediatric focused intensive care resources in our state and in every state.

And so when we see something that is is traveling around our children and they're making them sick.

We know we're going to be using utilizing the resources and potentially putting a strain on it and I think that's why you're hearing our message today to say we have to work together on this adults getting vaccinated directly helps our children who cannot get vaccinated right now I think that's what we're trying to articulate today we're all in this together so our actions are helping to protect our kids who can't so whether it's getting vaccinated wearing your mask indoors and protecting each other and I think that's what we all are focused on because this virus is very contagious.

It is serious and we need to make sure that we're protecting each other.

Thank you.

>> Will now go to the phone.

Have the first question.

>> A quick question is from the Knesset wreath that was wcnc.

>> Hi thank you so much for taking my question I wanted to see if I could revisit some of the prior question that we talk about the union County schools and their decision that's far too not mandate masks in the classroom, I'm just curious to see.

It's typically how you plan to continue to work with those districts.

I mean other than that I think you had mentioned.

Trying to put out more education is there anything else that you're doing to try to convince districts on their own to put that in the classroom.

>> One of the things that I think some of these districts to did not have mask mandates are finding out.

Is that they have a higher.

Level the spread of the virus.

And more quarantining occurs and their 4 children are not in school in person as we want.

And the number of those counties have gone to a mandatory mask mandate because of those issues we don't want to see that in any County across North Carolina.

But we're going to continue to work with their public health director with the school boards.

We have a.

To kit that provides a lot of safety measures not just masking but but a lot of other safety measures for example, they could in these counties.

Require more screening and testing they've got a number of tests that they can use to screen students to make sure that we slow the spread by getting positive students and staff out of the schools.

So there's a lot we're going continue to do together to continue to get people vaccinated and to to work toward getting through this pandemic.

Next question.

>> Our next question is from Richard craver's with the winston-salem journal.

>> Yes governor of this is a rich increibles was silent journal.

I had a couple questions for you one is where do you stand on the legislation involving Oakland high School Athletic Association.

On the bills now cleared the Senate you and your expectations of that and in the second legislation involving your executive authority are number 6.

>> Well first it's important for our high schools to to have athletic son that they be properly regulated.

I do have concerns with the bill in dismantling what is in place now I will look at this legislation I haven't seen the latest version of it I know that I think it still has to go through the House.

I will be glad to work with the Legislature on it and as it goes through the process.

I will consider it.

For emergency authority the governor I think that we're seeing this in action right now and things that we're doing to get vaccinations to people more easily and getting covid treatments to people more easily.

I think this is important emergency authority to have in a public health crisis.

And when you look at North Carolina overall a few months ago the CDC, the Bureau of Labor Statistics put out to graft.

Showing that North Carolina was among the lowest states in covid deaths per capita and among the lowest states in job loss per capita I think the steps that we've been take it that we've taken for this state are her positive to protect the health and safety of North Carolinians things change very quickly during this pandemic so I think that authority is important and will continue to be as we fight this virus.

Next question.

>> Our next question is from Derek Dellinger with FOX 40.

>> Thank you for taking my question is what they're telling with talks 46, I buy it from holding up a little bit until this question from a little bit earlier.

Week or 2 walks and local governments also some school districts who say the onus should not be on them to be making some of these decisions because people are traveling outside the county's outside the district.

For masking to those governments to those municipalities to those governing bodies to hear what you have to say that the basically say hey you should be doing this and not us.

>> Well we have provided the school systems with the tool kit and we have strongly recommend that everything that isn't that tool kit and when school boards superintendents faculty have to take the time to understand it and to consider it.

We've seen more effective enforcement of the things that are in the tool kit.

So I think it's important yes there needs to be statewide authority and we need to use that judiciously and sometimes it's appropriate to use it all across the state.

But throughout this pandemic we have encouraged local governments to step up and do the things that they need to do and sometimes doing even more then what the state requires.

And we want to continue that relationship with them providing them with information and letting them make decisions at the local level.

Next question.

>> Our next question is from road tolls and the North Carolina health news.

>> Governor I'm a doctor Cohen thanks for taking our questions.

You know we've been hearing from people that it harder to find a thing.

And you know you were talking about getting people tested more readily they can take advantage of the monoclonal antibodies.

And you're standing by for the for the monoclonal antibodies but about protecting.

What are some of the responses that you're going to be bringing to bear.

>> We are doing that and in fact a number of the hospitals and emergency department said told us that people are often going there for testing and we know that they are burden now with sick people who are coming in so we have work to set up special clinics in places people can go to get tested and I know doctor Cohen has more specifics on that so I'll let her addressing.

>> Hi rose and just let everyone know that if you need a covid test you can go to our Web site there is a testing that the tool that allows you to find testing locations, certain ones are put on by the state are completely free others are there are are thousands of them across that the state of North Carolina.

And we are doing any Norm S amount of testing in these testing sites.

Some of the highest amount of testing that we've done I think is why we're at a different moment in this pandemic than we were even a year ago our ability to do a an enormous amount of tests each and every day with fast turnaround time continues, I'm really grateful for the partnership with a lot of our labs that have have really built up their capacity and can even handle more capacity to do to the lab tests which is great.

I also mention that there are different testing modalities available so you can get home testing right now you can order them free from from us again go to.

That DHS website you can find out more information about free home testing as well.

So there's lots of different options for folks to get availability of testing you can purchase testing again for for home as well so we encourage everyone to take advantage of testing has another layer of protection again vaccines most important mask indoors testing if you've been exposed or have symptoms and making sure that you get treatment early.

Thank you.

Next question please.

>> A rose Hoban North Carolina health news.

>> I you know you were talking about school and is you know having to go into quarantine and whatnot are you making rapid tests available at school and whether the average turnaround time for the start that right now what I thought of that in the past week that kind of gone up.

>> That's a wrap of tests are available for schools and most of them are using them now and in fact we're encouraging them to use.

More rapid test.

Not only just for symptomatic students and teachers but also as as a screening tool, I'll let doctor Cohen address the PCR turnaround issue.

>> I wrote you know I didn't look at that data today but when I looked at it yesterday our our turnaround testing times have really held had steady about one and a half days for a full lab PCR test for turnaround times of course over a holiday weekend like Labor Day that does inch up a little bit over a holiday weekend.

But you know we're sort of back down and again live talk with some of our laboratory partners who say they have capacity to do even more so we don't expect that our our test turnaround times are going to be affected any time soon and we know that there's a lot of different types of testing going on we want to just make sure folks have access to tests is an important tool in fighting this virus.

Thanks.

Next question.

>> Our final person that will conclude today's media briefing is from Laura Lee was Carolina public press.

>> Good afternoon governor the questions are about boosters says the initial plan was for.

It just becomes September 20 and now we know the FDA will consider on the 17th.

And it may only be for Pfizer persist recipient.

I wonder what you know about when and how the teachers will be offered to North Carolinians who wants them.

>> Well first we're already providing 3rd shots for immunocompromised people and those are being given right now across North Carolina.

We are ready for 3rd shots with Pfizer whenever they are approved by FDA and CDC and we know that they're going to be meetings over the weekend.

>> We know that it could come as soon as September the 20th.

We're still unsure as to whether you had to have had your last shot 6 months or 7 months or 8 months, I'm not sure we know yet maybe doctor Cohen is found out something in the last day or so that that I don't know but we will be ready our providers will be ready for those 3rd Pfizer shots for people when approval is given dot Cohen.

She says that that doesn't next question.

>> Follow-up Laura Lee Carolina public press.

>> And that is because of the logistics of that in the first rollout you all have a a federal allocation amount that you receive in the new until the end of that week to direct whether this is a fallen leaf and go.

If we're honest up to 20 deadline that would mean allocation for next week so I'm just wondering you know have request in Maine.

What preparations have been made for the pump possible roll out.

And do we know anything about you know how many doses and where those doses will go well as the primary care providers or will it be as it wasn't personal out.

Mary hospital.

>> In staff meetings I've been amazed at this precise work that this team has done to be ready for 3rd shots when they are approved.

You know one of the things that we know will be a little different this time is that a lot of people went to some of our high throughput areas.

Like athletic stadiums and Friday Center in Chapel Hill and so they may be thinking that those are the places to go to get 3rd shots as well and that there probably won't be many if any of those this time and we're going to be encouraging people to go to our our pharmacies and other providers across the state and yes, there is a plan is for specific numbers.

Doctor Cohen and you might want to elaborate on what I've what I've said as well.

>> Thanks Laura, so.

Unlike earlier in the year in December and January when supply was extremely limited.

As we look forward into the next few weeks in terms of boosters.

Supply is is very different.

So we do have a lot of supply here in the state.

We are already making some projection.

Planning and making sure our providers are ordering.

But the ordering is not as as tite nearly as it was back then so supplies really not the issue and I but I do want to reiterate what the governor said is I do think the access points are going to be different than what people saw when they got their first rounds of vaccines earlier in the year.

So we're not anticipating as the governor said the higher throughput site because now we have built up a vaccine infrastructure where there are more access points.

We have more supply.

So we do intend to utilize those access points are pharmacies are primary care doctors are public Health Department.

So that is where you're going to see us direct folks for their their booster shot once again we have to wait for the FDA and CDC to give us the the go ahead to do that.

So anticipate more as we learn more about who is going to be eligible what window of time since your last a dose of the vaccine are you then eligible.

So we still have a lot to learn we doing a lot of preplanning I would also say we know our hospitals are incredibly busy right now taking care of sick covid patients and we are planning to make sure that we don't strain them further with efforts around booster vaccinations so we're taking that all into account.

Last thing I'll mention is in our long-term care settings as you'll remember.

The long term care.

Folks were given vaccinations through a federal program before that will not happen this time we are working on that right now to make sure that all of our long-term care facilities have vaccinating partner and the good news is is that nearly all do.

And so we're making sure that once boosters are available that we have the ability to go into our long-term care facilities and administer those boosters as quickly as possible.

>> Thanks everybody for joining us today and if you haven't get vaccinated.