Thread by @NC_Governor

Updates from Gov. Cooper's COVID-19 briefing:

https://twitter.com/NC_Governor/status/1369376990650920964

As of today we’ve had 875,903 COVID-19 cases; 997 new cases reported since yesterday; 1,147 people in the hospital; and sadly 11,552 people who have died. We continue to think about and pray for those who have lost loved ones or who are battling this illness.

North Carolina’s mission remains fast and fair when it comes to administering vaccines. Today, I’m proud to share that our state has fully vaccinated more than 1.1 million people. With almost 8 million adults in our state, there is more work to do – but this is a huge milestone.

This puts us even closer to a time when we can hug our loved ones and gather without fear of severe illness. I am grateful for the vaccine providers across our state for working hard to get shots off shelves and into arms. Your hard work is saving lives.

We continue to emphasize fairness in our vaccine distribution. In the last four weeks, over 20% of our first doses have been administered to Black North Carolinians. We've received national recognition for our efforts to administer vaccines equitably and report demographic data.

NC was recognized as the leader in the nation for reporting demographic data. We know that you have to be able to see the problem to fix it, and we’ll continue pushing these efforts so that everyone, no matter what you look like or where you live, has a spot to get their shot.

More schools are returning to in-person learning. The State Board of Education & health officials are emphasizing how critical it is to get students in classrooms. It's a top priority. I'm continuing to work with legislative leaders in both parties to ensure it happens safely.

With children back in school and vaccine distribution well under way, there are more signs of hope that we are making progress toward putting this pandemic behind us. The percent of tests that are positive is consistently around 5% and our hospital numbers remain stable.

This isn't the time to abandon our prevention efforts. Until the vaccine is widely available, preventing the spread of the virus must continue to be a focus. There are times in football when the runner nears the goal line, begins celebrating too early and is stripped of the ball.

Let’s not get caught celebrating too early. Let’s keep wearing our masks and being responsible so that one day soon we can turn the corner on this pandemic.

I'll visit the FEMA-supported vaccine site on its first day in Greensboro. The site will run for 8 weeks and aims to give ~3,000 vaccines a day. Grateful for the collaboration among federal, state and local health officials, @NCEmergency, @NCNationalGuard who've worked on this.

Despite the challenges of the last year, North Carolinians have never stopped showing up for each other. Health care workers have saved lives day in and day out. North Carolina businesses early in the pandemic started manufacturing PPE to help frontline workers.

Educators kept students engaged even through video screens. Neighbors left meals for each other and families waved to loved ones from windows. This kind of compassionate resilience is what it means to be a North Carolinian and it is what will help us get through this.

We will continue to monitor our progress with both COVID-19 metrics and vaccine distribution to guide decisions about future executive orders. If we do this right, we will see even more progress as we move into the spring.