Claire Donnelly
Claire Donnelly is WFAE's health reporter. She previously worked at NPR member station KGOU in Oklahoma and also interned at WBEZ in Chicago and WAMU in Washington, D.C. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and attended college at the University of Virginia, where she majored in Comparative Literture and Spanish. Claire is originally from Richmond, Virginia. In her free time, Claire likes listening to podcasts and trying out new recipes.
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Commissioners voted Wednesday night to automatically lift Mecklenburg County’s mask mandate once the average test positivity rate for COVID-19 in the county falls below 5% for seven consecutive days.
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Medic, Mecklenburg County's emergency medical services agency, recently shifted how it answers some Charlotte 911 calls because of staff shortages and other problems at the agency. But some firefighters are worried that the new policy is bad for their department—and, ultimately, for the public.
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At least 5,750 employees at Atrium Health have still not received a COVID-19 vaccine, leading the Charlotte-based hospital system to push back its original deadline for mandatory vaccination.
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North Carolina will initially receive 124,500 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine which it will administer to children ages 5 to 11 in the coming weeks.
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North Carolina's top health official, Mandy Cohen, hasn't talked about obesity in six months during her coronavirus news briefings with Gov. Roy Cooper.
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Novant Health says of the 375 employees who were suspended for not getting COVID-19 vaccines, nearly 200 are now compliant. The rest no longer have jobs with the health care system, which is based in Winston-Salem and has a major presence in Charlotte.
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Mecklenburg County’s health department will begin administering Pfizer COVID-19 booster shots in its clinics starting Monday. The agency is still awaiting clinical guidance from federal and state health officials, according to county health director Gibbie Harris.
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Roughly 99% of Novant Health employees have complied with the North Carolina-based hospital system's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Those who have not have been suspended and will be fired if they don't comply within five days. Novant is one of two major hospital systems in Charlotte.
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The district reported fewer positive COVID-19 cases among students this week compared to last week. This comes after the district's school board voted Monday to stop contact tracing and most quarantine rules.
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Students and staff who don't have a positive COVID-19 test or symptoms should "return to work or school immediately," the district said.