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World

Lawmakers call Biden’s Yemen policy ‘historic shift’ in US foreign relations

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In 2017, Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California, introduced a measure that came to be known as the Yemen War Powers resolution. It was intended to curtail US military support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, which has created a humanitarian crisis in the country. At the time, there was very little support on Capitol Hill. Now, the policy appears to have been embraced by the White House.

In an interview with CNN, Khanna called the move “a profound and historic shift” that marks a new chapter in the US relationship with Saudi Arabia.

“We’re being explicit and bold and open to the Saudis saying, ‘no, this is not a war we support,'” the congressman said. “Now I think that President Biden has made a clear statement that relationship is no longer what it once was.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who has been outspoken in calling for an end to American military intervention in Yemen, said in an interview that he believes the move will strengthen US national security, particularly if it makes the region less volatile as a result.

“The battle space has created openings for Al-Qaeda and ISIS to grow. It’s been a mistake from the beginning for the US to be involved in this war and I’m glad that our participation is finally coming to an end,” he said.

The move is an early global consequence of Biden taking over from former President Donald Trump, who vetoed the Yemen War Powers resolution in 2019 after it passed Congress with bipartisan support.

Yemen has been embroiled in a years-long civil war that has pitted a coalition backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, a Shia political and military organization from the north of Yemen. The conflict has cost thousands of civilian lives.

Democrats are optimistic the Biden administration will prioritize diplomatic and humanitarian efforts to bring an end to the conflict and point to the fact that career diplomat Timothy Lenderking has been appointed as special envoy for Yemen as a promising sign. But questions remain over exactly what the US will do next and how the administration will implement the policy change, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are promising oversight.

In his first major foreign policy speech as President earlier this month, Biden announced an end to “all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arm sales,” though he also said the US will “continue to help and support Saudi Arabia defend its sovereignty and its territorial integrity.”

“The details matter,” Khanna said, when it comes to the Yemen policy change, noting that one of his concerns is that the Saudis will claim future attacks are defensive and not offensive in an effort to find a loophole. The term offensive strikes should refer to “any strikes into Yemen,” he said.

How Congress can exercise oversight over Yemen policy

Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican who co-sponsored the Yemen War Powers resolution in the Senate, said in an interview that he is “thrilled” by the policy announcement, but added that if Congress needs to provide a check on the executive branch over the conflict in the future, lawmakers could always push again to pass a new version of the resolution.

“I’m really looking forward to the Biden administration providing some of these additional details to Congress on exactly what support they would consider to be defensive in nature that might remain in place,” Lee said. “What do they mean by that? I look forward to learning more about that.”

CNN reported in 2019 that the US at the time was the biggest supplier of arms to both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and its support has been crucial to the Saudi coalition’s war in Yemen. The flood of US weaponry has fueled a conflict that has killed tens of thousands — among them children on school buses and families fleeing violence — and pushed millions more to the brink of famine.

“I plan to be pretty vigilant to make sure we don’t end up selling weapons to the Saudis that are going to get used through a back door in the Yemen conflict,” said Murphy, who was also a co-sponsor of the Yemen War Powers resolution.

The senator said, “I hope that Congress won’t have to intervene here, but I brought resolutions to the floor under the last Democratic administration to object to arms sales. My hope is that there won’t be any sales of munitions noticed to Congress to Saudi Arabia, because those are clearly offensive weapons that are being used in Yemen. But if there are, I’ll be consistent. I’m not going to apply one standard to the Trump administration and a different one to the Biden administration.”

Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, a co-sponsor of the Yemen Resolution in the House, told CNN that Congress can play an oversight role to ensure swift action.

“It may be Democratic control with a Democratic President, but we have to make sure we’re continuing to make sure there’s really a timeline and there are actions that follow up to what the President said so that we can end the suffering in Yemen,” Pocan said, pointing to the oversight authorities of House and Senate committees as one way to hold the administration accountable.

Khanna plans to closely monitor how the new US policy is implemented and will continue to push for America to help the Yemenis recover from the damage inflicted upon them.

“We can’t go into places, break them, and then just abandon them. We have a moral responsibility to help rebuild civilian life and society in Yemen given the role we played in supporting the Saudi campaign. The Saudis have the biggest responsibility, by far, but we have a moral responsibility as well,” he said.

How the debate over the Yemen conflict — and war powers — changed

Even though the Yemen War Powers resolution was vetoed by Trump, lawmakers say the fact that it passed Congress nevertheless sent a powerful signal and, to some extent, paved the way for the new policy change on the conflict from the current administration.

“Absolutely, I think congressional action sent a strong message to anyone who listened. Clearly Donald Trump didn’t. Joe Biden did,” Pocan said.

Supporters of the Yemen resolution have argued that US military involvement in the Yemen conflict is unconstitutional because Congress did not explicitly authorize it. In their effort to pull the US from hostilities, they invoked the War Powers Resolution, a 1973 law aimed at reining in a president’s authority to engage the US in military action without congressional approval. Under the Constitution, the President acts as commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy, but Congress has the power to declare war.

Lee believes that passage of the resolution helped show that there is a growing bipartisan coalition on Capitol Hill that supports safeguarding the legislative branch’s constitutional role in authorizing war. The Utah Republican hopes that, in turn, may already be bringing about a shift in the way the US approaches war.

“We’ve gotten into too many wars in too many parts of the world and one of the things that’s facilitated that has been the fact that we’ve drifted away from the Constitution’s Article I focus on the need for Congress to declare war,” Lee said. “It’s not a partisan political issue. We don’t care whether it’s a Republican or a Democrat in the White House, if they’re taking us to war without authorization from Congress, that’s a problem.”

Khanna feels encouraged by what he views as an emerging “left-right consensus” that is skeptical of American foreign military interventions. “In terms of a recognition that military interventionism has been harmful to American strategic interests, I think that is something that has really grown in the United States Congress,” he said.

The congressman said that when he started pushing for a vote on the Yemen War Powers resolution, “it was an uphill fight” and that the murder of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi, an event that sparked bipartisan outrage, proved to be a “turning point.”

The CIA concluded the Saudi Crown Prince personally ordered the killing, despite the Saudi government’s denials that the de facto ruler was involved, and in the wake of the brutal killing, both chambers of Congress passed the Yemen resolution.

When Biden was elected President, Khanna was hopeful he would take action to pull US support for the Saudi-led offensive. But he didn’t know how soon that might happen. So he reached out to senior administration officials on the national security team to press the case and strategized with Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who had pushed for the resolution in the Senate.

“Senator Sanders and I talked, ‘do we need to re-introduce the War Powers resolution?’ We were concerned with how quickly they were going to act and how decisively they were going to act. And they knew that we were contemplating re-introducing that,” he said.

Ultimately, Khanna said that wasn’t necessary since Biden moved quickly to announce the policy change.

“It was a really meaningful moment to see it actually happening,” he said.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler, Ted Barrett, Jeremy Herb, Nima Elbagir contributed to this report.

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Entertainment

Dolly Parton tells Tennessee lawmakers to stop trying to build a statue of her

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Dolly Parton on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

NBCU

Country music icon Dolly Parton said Thursday she has asked Tennessee legislators to pull their bill to erect a statue of her on the state’s capitol grounds in Nashville.

“Given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time,” Parton said on Twitter.

Parton, 75, added that she’s open to being honored with a statue in Music City “somewhere down the road several years from now or perhaps after I’m gone if you still feel I deserve it.”

“In the meantime, I’ll continue to try to do good work to make this great state proud,” her statement said.

A life-size statue of the nine-time Grammy winner already stands on display in Sevierville, Tennessee, which is Parton’s hometown.

Statues in recent years have been at the center of volatile and divisive political debates about which Americans ought to be honored in the public square, and whether statues of figures with racist or otherwise controversial pasts should be torn down.

But the bill to immortalize Parton in Nashville, proposed by Democratic State Rep. John Mark Windle, received broad bipartisan support from the heavily Republican-leaning Tennessee General Assembly.

Windle in a recent interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press said he was “shocked” by the response his bill generated.

Tennesseans “love Dolly Parton, not just because she’s a great musician,” Windle said. “She’s a caring, compassionate and just a decent person. She takes care of her community, she takes care of her state. And she does it selflessly.”

Parton has a strong history of philanthropy in the state and beyond. Her “Imagination Library” program, started in 1995, mails free books to children every month.

After the 2016 Tennessee wildfires destroyed numerous homes, Parton pledged to donate $1,000 a month to each family left without a place to live for six months.

Last April, Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to aid in its efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, including Moderna’s vaccine trial.

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US

Georgia state GOP lawmakers introduce voting restriction legislation

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If passed, the eight proposed measures — which follow elections where Democrats made historic gains in the state — could considerably reshape Georgia’s electorate and have a significant impact on the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans, echoing a baseless argument frequently made by former President Donald Trump, claim that the measures are necessary to prevent voter fraud, even though no evidence exists that it played a factor in the outcome of the 2020 election.

One of the bills would require an excuse to vote absentee, undoing a 2019 law allowing no-excuse absentee voting. Under the bill, voters would need to be 75 years old or older, absent from their precinct, observing a religious holiday, have a physical disability, be required to provide constant care for someone with a physical disability, or required to work “for the protection of the health, life, or safety of the public during the entire time the polls are open” to qualify to vote absentee.

The bills would also ban ballot drop boxes and require voters to provide identification when they request an absentee ballot application. Another one of the bills would limit who can distribute absentee ballot applications to Georgia election officials and campaigns, blocking outside groups and nonprofit organizations from sending applications to voters.

Other measures introduced by state Republican lawmakers would expand poll watcher access, prohibit new Georgia residents from voting in runoffs, and mandate monthly updates to election officials of voters who have died.

Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller, who cosponsored the bills, said they “vary in their approach for reasserting confidence in an election system which has lost credibility with a majority of Georgians.”

“I want every legal vote counted, and I want better access for all voters. Accusing our reform efforts of suppression is a political tactic, pure and simple. Even those of us who never claimed that the election was stolen recognize that the electorate has lost confidence in the legitimacy of the system. We must work to restore that,” he said in a statement to CNN.

The package was roundly rebuked by Democratic lawmakers in the state after being introduced.

“How pathetic is it to respond to election losses by changing election rules rather than changing course on policy and tone?” state Democratic Rep. Josh McLaurin tweeted.
His message was echoed by Democratic state Sen. Nikki Merritt, who tweeted, “GA Republicans are so weak the only way they can win is by blocking your access to voting.”
Teri Anulewicz, a Democratic state representative, similarly tweeted: “Good legislation rights a wrong. It fixes a problem. Voter suppression won’t change why GA rejected the GOP in Nov & January.”
The Georgia Senate Democrats Twitter account also stated that the proposed measures are what happens when “Democrats win in GA.”

“These bills introduced today by the GA Senate GOP are a laundry list of #votersupression tactics meant to roll back voter participation, aimed specifically at reversing the impact Black voters and other voters of color,” the post read.

Democrats won both of Georgia’s US Senate seats in January runoff elections, and in November, President Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win the presidential election in the Peach State in nearly three decades.

Despite the absence of any widespread security issues with voting nationwide, GOP lawmakers in battleground states across the country have pushed for additional voting restrictions.

In Pennsylvania, Republicans are looking to repeal a no-excuse absentee voting law passed in 2019 through the state’s GOP-led Legislature.

And in Arizona, one GOP-sponsored bill would repeal the state’s permanent early voting list, which allows a voter to automatically receive a ballot by mail for every election.

CNN’s Kelly Mena contributed to this report.



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US

Lawmakers push Biden to offer recurring $2,000 stimulus checks

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As Congress debates President Joe Biden’s request for $1.9 trillion in coronavirus relief funding — including a third stimulus check pegged at $1,400 — some Democratic lawmakers are pushing for an even bigger response: $2,000 monthly payments until the pandemic is history. 

Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and more than 50 other House members are urging the Biden administration to back such a policy, according to a signed letter sent to Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Signers of the January 28 letter also include other leading House progressives such as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

“One more check is not enough during this public health and economic crisis,” they wrote. “Many families cannot afford to wait for eight months between payments. To truly build back better, families need stability and certainty through ongoing relief — they cannot be at the mercy of congressional gridlock.”

A recurring stimulus check is a familiar proposal for Harris, who last year introduced a bill in the Senate that would have provided $2,000 a month for each adult and child in the U.S. until the pandemic ended, although the effort failed to gain traction. 

Supporters of the idea note that financial hardship remains widespread around the U.S. 10 months after COVID-19 effectively shuttered the economy. A new analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning think tank, found that one-third of adults are struggling to pay their bills. Many of those who are hurting are low-wage workers whose service jobs were impacted by the crisis, such as those in restaurant and retail jobs.

While the letter didn’t specify an amount for a recurring stimulus payment, Rep. Omar tweeted on Thursday that she would like to see payments of $2,000 per month until the global health crisis has ended. So far, the federal government’s response efforts have included two direct payments to most low- and middle-class families: a $1,200 check for eligible adults last spring and a $600 per person check earlier this month. 

The recurring payments should be directed to “those who need it most and will spend it the quickest,” as well as include “all immigrant workers, refugees, and their families,” Omar wrote. Older dependents and people over the age of 16 who are claimed as dependents — and who were excluded from the first two stimulus checks — should also be included, she added.

“Economic suffering”

The latest relief plan under debate in Congress would provide a third stimulus check of $1,400 to most U.S. households, with Wall Street analysts estimating that the payments could be approved by the end of March.

Given ongoing hardship and high unemployment rates, a bold stimulus plan is needed to both alleviate current suffering and plant the seeds for economic revival, said Gene Sperling, former director of the National Economic Council under President Clinton and President Obama, on a conference call with reporters on Thursday. 

“We know there is still an enormous amount of economic suffering going on in our country,” Sperling said on the call hosted by Invest in America Action, an advocacy group for public investment. “The top quartile might see unemployment around 5%, but for the bottom quartile, it’s over 20%.”

For people in the bottom fifth of income-earners, unemployment remains at “Depression-level” rates, he added.


U.S. unemployment claims fell last week

04:53

Asked about Omar’s request for recurring stimulus payments, Sperling noted that Biden’s $1.9 trillion proposal includes several recurring aid programs, including $400 in extra weekly jobless benefits and an increase in tax credits to $3,600 per child under 6-years-old. There’s some discussion that such a child tax credit could be paid on a monthly basis, he added. 

Some economists have argued that direct stimulus checks aren’t as effective in boosting economic growth as other forms of aid, such as unemployment benefits and food stamps, which are provided to people in need and are spent relatively quickly. The effectiveness of the second round of checks has been mixed, with lower-income households spending the money quickly, while wealthier households socked away the cash, a recent study found. 

Ongoing payments would provide stability to families struggling in the crisis, Omar wrote. “Recurring direct payments until the economy recovers will help ensure that people can meet their basic needs, provide racially equitable solutions and shorten the length of the recession,” she said.



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Health

NC coronavirus update January 29: Republican lawmakers pushing for North Carolina students to get back to class as soon as possible

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RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Here are the latest updates about COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in North Carolina.

Have questions about the COVID-19 vaccine? Send them to us here

FRIDAY MORNING STORYLINES

State Republican lawmakers are working on legislation that would require some sort of in-person instruction from each school district. The news comes as reports of schools aren’t seeing high COVID-19 transmission rates.

Parents would still have the option for virtual learning under the legislation. Gov. Roy Cooper has said he wants students back in the classroom as soon as it’s safe, but the decision is ultimately up to each district. The Wake County School board will decide whether all remote learning will continue in a Feb. 9 meeting.

The legislation proposal is expected to be unveiled in the coming days.

New data from the CDC shows that 26 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered. Around 21 million have received at least one dose. In North Carolina, approximately 850,000 doses have been given out.

Cumberland County is hosting another COVID-19 vaccine clinic on Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Crown Expo. This clinic is for the first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine and the second dose of the Moderna vaccine.

THURSDAY

10 p.m.
Cumberland County officials have put out an urgent call for more volunteers to help keep their weekly vaccine distribution centers operational.

The county made the official announcement through several social media posts, asking any community members to sign up.
Gene Booth, the Cumberland County Emergency Management Director, tells Eyewitness News that this long-term operation requires more help. “The thing is this is going to be long-reaching, potentially a long term process and a long term event.”

Right now, the county is receiving help from the community emergency response team, Team Rubicon, and Civil Air Patrol. In all, that’s around 30 volunteers available on a daily basis, with the addition of 16 National Guard members to assist with vaccinations or other duties.

Wendy Zaborowski, an Army veteran and Sandhills resident, is a long-time volunteer at Team Rubicon. The disaster response group sends veterans and other professionals to provide relief and assistance.

“I’m 50 years old, and I am service-oriented. I was a police officer for a number of years; I retired from the military, so service is almost in my blood,” Zaborowski said.
Zaborowski has been helping Cumberland County operate its vaccination site at the Crown Complex for the last three weeks saying, “our main purpose is to try and make sure that they can continue on through the process so it doesn’t waste their time and it spares a spot for somebody else that needs to get vaccinated.”

The county’s emergency management is also utilizing volunteer nurses from nearby schools, according to Booth. He says they’ve recruited them from “Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville State, Methodist University, and recently, we also have Campbell University students.”

Since the county posted the need on social media, Booth says they’ve received 80 applications. If you would like to sign up, you can click this link for the application process.

7:31 p.m.
The Durham County Department of Public Health will temporarily close its vaccine appointment scheduling line and will not add new vaccination dates to its online booking site effective immediately.

This is because of limited COVID-19 vaccine supply expected to arrive from the NC Department of Health and Human Services to the Durham health department. This will affect scheduling for DCoDPH and Southern High School vaccination sites.

No currently scheduled vaccine appointments will be canceled or postponed, though some appointments beginning February 1 will be moved from the Health Department location to the Southern High School location.

People whose appointments must be moved will be contacted by phone or email.

“We are very thankful that we do not have to cancel any currently standing appointments, but as Secretary Cohen explained to the public in her news conference earlier this week, the unfortunate reality is that demand is far outpacing supply,” said Health Director Rod Jenkins. “Durham County has a baseline allocation of 600 first doses for the next three weeks, and we are uncertain when our allocation will increase. It is best to halt scheduling until we are confident we will be able to fulfill additional appointments.

“We hope that by the end of February we will be able to reopen our scheduling process and see increased supply, but that is uncertain at this time. We will continue to provide more information as it is received,” Jenkins added.

People in vaccination phases 1 and 2 may still sign up for the COVID-19 Vaccine Waitlist. The list is also available in Spanish. Those who fill out the form will receive a call if vaccine doses become available because of appointment cancellations or no-shows.

4:41 p.m.
The Moore County Health Department has been notified of the deaths of 24 residents whose deaths were determined to be related to COVID-19 infection. The deaths date to December 11.

All 24 residents were 65 or older. All but six were 75 or older.

A total of 133 deaths have now been attributed to COVID-19 in Moore County since March. Moore County’s total for COVID-19 deaths linked to outbreaks in long-term care facilities stands at 70. Moore County’s 63 other COVID-19 deaths have been linked to community spread.

There have been 6,924 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Moore County.

3:56 p.m.
Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead has asked all employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I have informed all employees representing the Sheriff’s Office to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” Birkhead said. “This includes employees working in the Durham County Detention Center. My office is working with the Durham County Department of Public Health and our medical provider to make the vaccine available to our detainees housed there as soon as possible.”

In a release, Birkhead said the sheriff’s office has been affected by COVID-19 but it continues to serve the community.

“The very nature of our work requires continual human contact and interaction – be it inside the Detention Facility, at the Durham County Justice Center, or when our deputies travel throughout the County responding to calls for service,” Birkhead said. “Throughout the duration of the pandemic that started 325 days ago, I have received input from my command staff while consulting with medical and health professionals across our region, state and nation. As the leader of the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, I am responsible to follow the science and the resulting data.

“Since the time of the internal announcement, numbers thus far show that more than half of the agency has received the first dose and are scheduled to receive the second dose throughout the month of February.,” Birkhead added. “We do not have the final numbers or exact percentages right now. We are still coordinating with DCoDPH to ensure all employees be vaccinated. We want all DCSO employees to complete this process as soon as possible, but it is dependent upon the availability of the vaccine and scheduling appointments.”

3:12 p.m.
The Halifax County Health Department reports 45 new cases for a total of 4,157 positive COVID 19 cases. The death toll remains at 80.

2:50 p.m.
Gov. Roy Cooper and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen visited the Piedmont Health SeniorCare center in Pittsboro on Thursday to see patients in the Chatham County community receive the vaccine.

“From the beginning, we have focused on distributing vaccines quickly and equitably,” Cooper said. “The vaccine is still in short supply, but we are working to ensure that all North Carolinians have a spot to get their shot.”

The state is encouraging hospitals and health departments to partner with trusted community organizations who can host vaccination events at churches, community centers and other places that will be accessible to all North Carolinians.

“Community health centers are the lifeline to health care for thousands of rural and underserved communities. They’ve been frontline partners in providing testing throughout the pandemic and are an important part of the state’s strategy to ensure marginalized residents have access to COVID-19 vaccines,” Cohen said.

2:04 p.m.

State Treasurer Dale Folwell and the State Health Plan are calling for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to provide vaccines and allow primary care physicians, pediatricians and all pharmacies to administer the shots. North Carolina has come under fire for its slow pace in administering the allotted vaccines to residents and Folwell hopes to change that.

“For almost a year we’ve known that there are regional and cultural differences in attitude towards vaccines, especially new ones,” Folwell said. “We’ve always known that ground zero is elderly facilities and prisons. The administration of the rollout has not reflected the standards that North Carolinians should expect.”

The NCDHHS plan is to vaccinate health care workers in hospitals first, those 75 and older next and expanded that to include those 65 and older. Folwell contended that expansion happened even though the 75-year-old population has not been completely vaccinated. He said this has caused unnecessary anxiety among the most vulnerable. NCDHHS has been slow to actually administer the shots because of its decision to allow only hospitals and health departments to get and administer the vaccines, Folwell observed.

“We need to move the vaccines out of the expensive hospital environment. In 62 years, I’ve never gone to a hospital to get a vaccine,” Folwell said. “For more than 100 years, citizens have entrusted primary care physicians, pediatricians and pharmacies to administer vaccines. People are dying; poverty and illiteracy are worsening. The State Health Plan and the Clear Pricing Project Network stand ready to help get the vaccines out to the public.

“We have tens of thousands of independent physicians and other medical providers who are ready to give these vaccines today,” Folwell added. “We need to be getting the doses to the people who want the vaccines using primary care doctors, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists – anybody with medical expertise. If all fails, solicit the advice of the teenagers who run Chick-Fil-A. They know how to distribute product!”

1 p.m.
North Carolina has surpassed 9,000 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

131 more deaths were reported on Thursday.

The latest numbers from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services showed 6,490 new cases in the state.

After days of lower testing numbers, more than 60,000 were completed in the last 24 hours.

3,238 people are currently hospitalized in the state with COVID-19. Dr. Mandy Cohen on Wednesday noted that the hospitalizations have been declining, but they are still higher than they should be.

With the higher number of tests recorded on Thursday, the percent positive in the state dropped to 7.9 percent.

12:19 p.m.
Sampson County reports 27 new cases for a total of 6,201 positive test results. The county death count stands at 78.

11:45 a.m.
South Carolina officials have detected two cases of COVID-19 that first emerged recently in South Africa and are the first of its kind in the United States.

The state’s Public Health Laboratory tested samples on Jan. 25 and Jan. 27, each identifying a case of the variant. On Wednesday, CDC officials alerted the state to a South Carolina sample that was tested at LabCorp and determined to be the B.1.351 variant originally identified in South Africa.

There is no known travel history and no connection between the two cases. Both cases were found in adults in different parts of the state.

“The arrival of the SARS-CoV-2 variant in our state is an important reminder to all South Carolinians that the fight against this deadly virus is far from over,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC Interim Public Health Director. “While more COVID-19 vaccines are on the way, supplies are still limited. Every one of us must recommit to the fight by recognizing that we are all on the front lines now. We are all in this together.”

THURSDAY MORNING STORYLINES

A World Health Organization team has emerged from quarantine in the Chinese city of Wuhan to start field work in a fact-finding mission on the origins of the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. They were required to complete a 14-day quarantine after arriving in China.

The mission has become politically charged, as China seeks to avoid blame for alleged missteps in its early response to the outbreak. A major question is where the Chinese side will allow the researchers to go and whom they will be able to talk to.

There have been more than 100,971,000 global cases of COVID-19 according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has experienced the most deaths with 429,214 as of 7 a.m.

WEDNESDAY

5:14 p.m.
The Town of Carrboro wants residents to provide comment on a draft plan for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and other disruptions. The comment period ends Friday, Jan. 29.

The draft Orange County Long-Term Recovery and Transformation Plan is available here.

The public comment form is available here.

5:01 p.m.
In alignment with the state of North Carolina’s January 27 extension of the Modified Stay at Home Order, the Town of Morrisville is continuing additional safety precautions and changes to its daily operations, through at least February 28.

The following changes to Town of Morrisville operations will be in place through February 28: Town of Morrisville offices will be closed to the public; Town Council meetings (and the February 11 Planning & Zoning Board meeting) will be virtual.

The Morrisville Aquatics & Fitness Center and Cedar Fork Community Center will be closed until at least February 12. No outdoor classes will be conducted, but virtual programming will be available (parks, greenways, tennis courts and the Healthy Food Hub will remain open).

“While the Town of Morrisville continues to have relatively low COVID-19 infection rates, it’s not time to ease all restrictions and let our guard down just yet,” said Morrisville Mayor TJ Cawley. “The best way to protect yourself and others is to stay vigilant in adherence of the three Ws- wearing a face covering, waiting six feet apart (avoiding close contact) and washing your hands often.”

Town staff will continue to work mostly remotely, with a limited number of employees in Town buildings.

4:38 p.m.
The Halifax County Health Department reports 34 new cases for a total of 4,112 total positive COVID 19 cases. Six additional deaths were reported, bringing the county’s total to 80 — 1.95% of cases.

Beginning Wednesday, a provider from the COVID-19 team will be reaching out to eligible candidates for the second dose and will set up an individual appointment.

Halifax County has used all available first-dose vaccines this week and will schedule vaccines for next week after they know what their allocation of vaccine will be.

Halifax Community College has requested that no pets be allowed on the campus while visiting for vaccination purposes.

Please wait two weeks from last vaccination of any kind before receiving the COVID 19 vaccine.

2:30 p.m.
“We are encouraged to see that our COVID numbers have stabilized in recent days, which is good,” Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference on Wednesday. “But the reality is that they are still high, and that too many people are still falling seriously ill and dying. The virus is still raging through our communities.”

He also addressed the vaccine shortage in the country.

“I know this is a maddening and frustrating time for many of you,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands of you have had success in getting vaccinated, but many more of you haven’t been able to get appointments or have been put on waiting lists.”

Cooper said things will get better as providers in North Carolina receive more from the federal government.

In the meantime, he said, it’s important to keep practicing the 3 Ws.

As far as the COVID-19 metrics go in the state, Health Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said cases are still too high but have been decreasing since a peak on January 10.

The earliest detection mechanism of visits to the ER are decreasing but above levels early in pandemic, she said.

Hospitalizations have also decreased but are still well above where we need to be.

“The overall takeaway is that we are past the spike from the winter holidays but we are still experiencing worrisome levels of virus,” she said.

2:20 p.m.
Gov. Roy Cooper is extending the current modified Stay-At-Home order until Feb. 28, he announced on Wednesday, and plans to keep the eviction moratorium and statewide order allowing to-go mixed drinks sales in place through March.

Read more about that here.

1:19 p.m.
The Sampson County Health Department is reporting 42 new cases for a total of 6,174 positive COVID-19 cases.

The county death toll from COVID-19 remains at 78.

The health department has scheduled a drive-thru vaccination clinic for February 10. The morning portion of the clinic is specifically reserved for second doses for those persons who received vaccines at the January 13 drive thru event held for those 75 and older. The event will be at the Sampson County Expo Center at 414 Warsaw Road in Clinton.

Last names begin with A-H – arrive at 8 a.m.; last names begin with I-P – arrive at 9 a.m.; last names begin with Q-Z – arrive at 10 a.m.

Please bring the vaccination card you were provided when you received your first dose.

If vaccine supply allows, the afternoon (1 p.m. to 4 p.m.) will be open for eligible persons (healthcare workers and those 65 and older who have not had any vaccine with 14 days of the event.

If you want to come to the drive-thru event, but do not have transportation, please call Sampson Area Transportation at (910) 2990127. The ride is free but limited to the vaccine event location and return trip.
11:40 a.m.
White House Coronavirus Coordinator Jeff Zients is saying in the Biden administration’s first formal briefing on the pandemic that officials will always hew to the science and level with the public.

Rochelle Walensky, the new head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says her agency’s latest forecast indicates the U.S. will record between 479,000 to 514,000 deaths by Feb. 20.

Zients says the federal Department of Health and Human Services is acting Wednesday to make more professionals available to administer vaccinations. The government will authorize nurses and doctors who have retired to administer vaccines, and professionals licensed in one state will be able to administer shots in other states. Such measures are fairly standard in health emergencies.

The U.S. leads the world with 25.4 million confirmed cases and more than 425,000 deaths.

11:30 a.m.
North Carolina health officials are reporting 5,587 more COVID-19 cases, bringing the total since March to 733,010.

With 97 percent of North Carolina hospitals reporting, 3,305 people are being hospitalized with COVID-19. That is down 63 from Tuesday. There are 398 confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted in the past 24 hours.

NCDHHS said there are 398 empty ICU beds and 4,753 empty inpatient beds.

In North Carolina, 8,915 people have died from the virus as of Wednesday. That is 139 more since Tuesday.

The state’s percent positive rate of tests is 11.1%, which is down slightly from Tuesday’s 13.3%.

WEDNESDAY MORNING STORYLINES

North Carolina will receive its first federal shipment of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday. The 120,000 doses of the vaccine the state receives each week will be less than what’s been made available so far from the state’s supply.

Gov. Roy Cooper will speak Wednesday afternoon along with the state’s COVID-19 task force. Cooper is expected to answer questions about the state’s vaccine supply. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen has said the state is finished giving out its backlog of shots.

Gov. Cooper is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. The briefing will be carried live on ABC11 and abc11.com and on the free ABC11 North Carolina Streaming App.

A driver-thru vaccination clinic at Galot Motorsports Parks on NC 242 in Dunn will begin at 10 a.m. today and continue as long as supplies last. The clinic is for healthcare workers and adults 65 and older. You don’t have to register, but you will need to bring a form of ID.

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