NC Cases:
13,397
NC Cases Hospitalized:
491
NC Deaths:
641
Know your W's Campaign
The NC Department of Health and Human Services is asking people to remember these three things as we stay strong and continue to flatten the curve and slow the spread of COVID-19.
If you leave home, practice your Ws: Wear, Wait, Wash
- Wear a cloth face covering if you will be with other people
- Wait 6 feet apart. Avoid close contact.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer.
These actions can protect our families and neighbors as the state takes a cautious step forward to ease restrictions while the virus is still circulating.
All North Carolinians are encouraged to share this message in their businesses and through their organizations to protect our families and neighbors as the state takes a cautious step forward while the virus is still circulating.
Flyers
- Know Your Ws (English, Spanish, Combined English and Spanish)
- Wear (English, Spanish, Combined English and Spanish)
- Wait (English, Spanish, Combined English and Spanish)
- Wash ( English, Spanish, Combined English and Spanish)
- Know Your Ws/Stop if You Have Symptoms (English - Color, Black & White; Spanish - Color, Black & White)
- Know Your Ws/Stay Strong (English - Color, Black & White; Spanish - Color, Black & White)
Tax Code
Businesses receiving Paycheck Protection Program loans might still be taxed at the state level for loan forgiveness benefits - but legislators said Wednesday that they hope to change that. The legislature's Revenue Laws Study Committee and discussed plans to "decouple" the state's tax code from several federal tax changes made in the recent CARES Act for coronavirus relief.
The draft legislation approved in committee Wednesday would decouple from the CARES Act changes because legislative staff said that applying the changes at the state level would cost "hundreds of millions of dollars, probably topping a billion dollars." That's money the state can't afford to give up when it's already expecting a huge revenue shortfall due to coronavirus.
But legislators from both parties voiced concerns about the state continuing to consider loan forgiveness from the Paycheck Protection Program as taxable income - something the CARES Act says won't be taxable at the federal level. "If you tax those dollars, in my opinion you negate the incentive to get on the program," said Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow. "It seems to me like it's a double hit if you turned around and taxed it from a state level."
Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabarrus and chairman of the Revenue Laws Study Committee, said he's hopeful a change can be made as the bill moves forward and the state's budget picture becomes clearer. "We're really, really concerned about the state's revenues going into next year," he said. "We are hearing multi-billion-dollar shortfalls. ... If we learn that revenues are better than we're hearing right now, we'd be the first in line to potentially change our position on this one."
Three New Tax Credits for Many Businesses Impacted by COVID-19
Good news for employers affected by COVID-19: Three new credits may be able to assist them:
- Employee Retention Credit - Designed to encourage businesses to keep employees on their payroll.
- Paid Sick Leave Credit - Designed to allow a business to get a credit for an employee who is unable to work (including telework) because of Coronavirus quarantine or self-quarantine or has Coronavirus symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis.
- Family Leave Credit - The employer can also receive a credit for employees who are unable to work due to caring for someone with Coronavirus or caring for a child because the child's school or place of care is closed, or the paid childcare provider is unavailable due to the Coronavirus.
Early Reopening
North Carolina is in the early days of "Phase One" of a three-phase reopening plan, and there is a growing partisan divide over whether that plan moves too slowly. Elected officials from a group of eight counties in Eastern North Carolina want to be able to set their own schedules.
A group of Republican state senators filed a bill last week that would render Cooper's coronavirus-related executive orders basically powerless to stop businesses from violating them to reopen. A spokeswoman for Cooper called it "a dangerous bill that irresponsibly encourages people to violate health and safety rules during a pandemic."
And on Tuesday the partisan split hit the Council of State, which is the board made up of the politicians who are in charge of various parts of the state's executive branch. All the Republicans on the Council of State - including Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who's running for governor against Cooper - signed a letter calling on Cooper to schedule a new meeting "as soon as possible." They want to ask questions about why restaurants, hair salons, churches and other such establishments still can't fully reopen.
At a press conference Tuesday, Cooper was asked about that letter and said he already offered the Council of State a briefing, days before the Republican members sent that letter. "Pandemics cannot be partisan," he said. "I've been on the phone with the White House every week. I've signed a unanimous pandemic budget. We're going to rely on the science and the facts to tell us when we need to reopen."
Republican leaders wrote, "we need clarity as to why you're not allowing certain industries to reopen as our neighboring states have done." A day later, Cooper said that he spoke with Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and expressed concerns with Georgia's more aggressive reopening plans. That same day, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a growing COVID-19 outbreak in northeast Georgia - where the state borders North Carolina. Georgia has had nearly triple the number of coronavirus-related deaths as North Carolina, despite both states having roughly the same number of residents. As of Tuesday, Georgia was reporting 1,460 deaths compared to North Carolina's 577.
At this point, the Governor and Secretary Cohen have said we are on track for moving to Phase 2 on May 22.
Phase 2
Phase 2 will take effect 2-3 weeks after Phase 1, or as soon as May 22
- The statewide stay-at-home order is lifted, although vulnerable people should still stay home.
- Restaurants and bars can reopen dining rooms but at limited capacity.
- Gyms, entertainment venues and places or worship can reopen but at limited capacity.
- Public playgrounds reopen.
- People can gather in small groups of more than 10 people.
- Strict rules and restrictions stay in place at nursing homes and other care facilities, including rehab centers and hospitals. Visitors are banned.
What's open:
All businesses and venues but with restrictions and smaller capacities
Phase 3
Phase 3 will take effect 4-6 weeks after Phase 2
- Vulnerable people should stay home or avoid crowded spaces.
- Restaurants, bars, retail stores, gyms, churches and other venues and businesses can increase capacity.
- Larger groups can gather again.
- Strict rules and restrictions stay in place at nursing homes and other care facilities, including rehab centers and hospitals.
What's open: All businesses and venues
Legislation to Address Available 1.93 Billion of Cares Act Money
The House COVID-19 committees began meeting again this week to address issues related to COVID-19 and to work on spending bills for the remaining $1.93 billion in federal Cares Act funds allocated to North Carolina.
Both the House or the Senate have indicated they want to hold on to a much of the remaining COVID-19 funds as possible to fill the budget holes the state is facing. The intent of the CARES ACT funds was to offset losses for citizens and businesses during quarantine and to stimulate the economy, not to fill state budget holes. The House and the Senate are hoping for changing guidance from the federal government that will authorize states to use the funds for state budget deficits.
The partial economic collapse that has put hundreds of thousands of people out of work over the last two months in North Carolina will take a chunk out of state tax revenues, and lawmakers are waiting on a consensus estimate from their staff and Gov. Roy Cooper's administration. Initial estimates put the loss as high as $4 billion for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. Berger said that doesn't include the state highway budget, which might see another billion for the Department of Transportation than anticipated. Berger said the leftover federal money "may very well be needed to make sure we can operate our schools, not have furloughs of teachers as happened in the last recession."
DHHS is beginning to identify the priorities for the next round of federal COVID-19 money the legislature will spend. They shared in a webinar this week three key areas they are hoping will be funded:
- Crisis services (Important to keep MH/DD/SA clients out of hospital settings)
- Shore up single stream money -MCOs have already overspent $16M on single stream services. Some of them have as little as 30 days of cash on hand. This fiscal year they only netted $28M in "savings" from Medicaid, and they've already put more than that into community reinvestment this year. Most of the LME/MCOs are nowhere near breaking even, and by end of fiscal year, will likely be in an even more difficult financial situation. As service-need increase from COVID (expected in approximately 4-6 months, this deficit will be an even bigger deal.
- Additional supports for residential facilities
They also mentioned they are looking for funding, preferably through the Medicaid Rebase, to increase the capitation rate for the LME/MCOs so they can continue to stabilize the MH/DD/SA system.
School Meals
School districts will need additional funding to keep offering student meal distributions during the summer months, a Department of Public Instruction official told lawmakers Thursday. Lynn Harvey, the school nutrition services section chief, said that since schools closed in March, they've served 18 million meals served at 1,000 pick-up sites and through the use of 2,100 school buses doing deliveries.
School nutrition workers went from serving cafeteria meals to packaging meals for distribution to ensure that the 826,000 students in North Carolina who receive free or reduced-price school meals wouldn't go hungry. "Literally the face of school meals changed overnight," Harvey told the House COVID-19 committee's education group.
Harvey said that 80% of school districts want to continue their programs at the same level during the summer months, even as most districts take a break from online instruction. But that would require money to keep the school bus deliveries rolling, or the number of daily meals will drop from 500,000 per day to 125,000 to 150,000 meals per day. Harvey didn't provide a specific amount she needs from the legislature, but she noted that total weekly expenditures total up to $15 million per week, with some of it subsidized by federal funding. The recently passed coronavirus relief bill includes $75 million for school nutrition, and the State Board of Education is scheduled to vote on an allocation policy to distribute that money at its May 21 meeting. Colin Campbell, THE INSIDER, 5/15/20
Federal Plan and Waiver Flexibilities Requests and Approvals; State Legislation
Medicaid & MH/DD/SA COVID-19 Next Steps
As a result of the pandemic, many changes in waivers, telehealth, etc have been positive for the MH/DD/SA system. A lot of questions have been raised about the possibility of continuing some of the changes after the COVID-19 Executive Orders are lifted. In response to these inquiries, Medicaid has developed an internal working group to begin looking at all the changes to decide how to hold onto the ones that have had a positive impact on the system.
First, they will be identifying the changes, due to federal regulations or because not best practice for care, will be reverted. They want to alert agencies as soon as possible about what those changes are so they can make preparation to transition back.
They will identify the items they would like to keep in place and then look at them through a fiscal lens to determine which ones are affordable.
The Division of Medicaid has asked for our feedback on the changes in the system that we think are beneficial to the clients we serve. As such, we will be sending out a survey to members to collect your feedback so we can compile a list of recommendations for the department. We would greatly appreciate member participation in the survey!
PPE Distribution for DHSR Licensed Group Facilities
NCDHHS, in coordination with North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) and the National Guard (NCNG) will be distributing packs of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to all DHSR licensed facilities across the state. This is intended to help residential facilities follow the
guidance on infection control measures issued by DHSR to limit and control COVID-19 infection.
Each pack will include approximately
14-days worth of:
* Face shields
* Procedure masks
* Gloves
* Shoe covers
The amount of each agency's packet will be based on the number of licensed beds. Emails will be sent to facilities letting them know the date and location where they need to go to pick up their packet.
DHHS is still strongly recommending NO VISITORS but they are in discussion about what a transition will look like to allow visitors again. There will be a rate increase of between 5% and 10% for Personal Care recipients. Each consumer receiving Personal Care will receive the increase, it does not depend on service setting.
DHHS always recommends that staff and residents wear cloth masks, except if the resident is in his/her bedroom alone. Surgical masks should be worn by staff when coming into close contact with residents. All staff should continue to be evaluated with a fever/health questionnaire when coming to work at the facility. Anything temperature over 100.0 is considered a fever.
REMINDER -- Faces of the Frontlines Campaign
We hope you have all had a chance to submit pictures and videos for the Faces of the Frontlines Campaign. If you have not, below is a reminder and guide to the process. We need your support!
The CareForNC is launching a COVID-19 campaign during May and June to recognize and
honor the MH/DD/SA, child welfare and juvenile justice front line workers who have placed themselves, and their families, at-risk to continue serving their clients during the pandemic. Unfortunately, most people don't recognize the behavioral health, I/DD, Substance Use Disorder and child welfare work as "frontline workers" and it is important to change that perception. We work amongst healthcare warriors every day in our field and we are asking you to send in photos and short videos we can share to help our state and communities see the many faces of frontline workers!
These images will be used in our CareForNC COVID-19 Campaign: #FacesOfTheFrontline. The focus of this campaign is to tell our story - that our providers are on the front lines as well as physical health providers during this pandemic. The photos and videos submitted will be put together by a group of the LME/MCO public relations staff and posted on our CareForNC Facebook and Twitter site. We strongly encourage all your agencies to repost on your individual sites the CareForNC posts AND structure similar posts on your own website showing the many #FacesOfTheFrontline!!! Be sure to use one or all the hashtags listed below on your agency posts.
- #FacesoftheFrontlines
- #NCHeroes
- #CareforNC
- #TogetherOnTheFrontLine
If you do not have a google account to use the Google drive, you can email your pictures and videos to
carefornc@gmail.com
.
Many video attachments may be too large to send via email. In that case, please upload your videos to YouTube privately, Dropbox, or use WeTransfer and send a link to the CareForNC email so we can download the file. Be sure to include:
- Your Name
- Organization name
- County or counties you serve
- Email
- Description of Content
- Any additional information
Below are some links to provide you additional information to help you create your own #FacesOfTheFronline posts and for video and picture submissions to CareForNC.
