Press Releases

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) will launch its new electronic system to streamline the process for creating death records with a staggered rollout beginning on October 19 in eight counties (Buncombe, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford, Johnston, Mecklenburg, Orange and Wake counties). Statewide implementation is anticipated by June 2021.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services updated its COVID-19 guidance for places of worship and shared a toolkit to support faith leaders in slowing the spread of the virus.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has extended essential flexibilities for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children ( WIC ) to ensure participants continue to receive the food and health support they need throughout the COVID-19 national public health emergency.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with United Providers of Health (UPOH) to address unmet health care needs of historically marginalized communities. A new $7 million statewide effort will support NCDHHS' COVID-19 response by providing preventative health care services, connections to mental health supports and help securing non-medical drivers of health like food and housing.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) today announced a milestone in the use of telehealth and telephonic visits by NC Medicaid enrollees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since establishing telehealth flexibility policies in early March, NC Medicaid has processed claims for approximately more than 1.1 million telehealth and 350,000 telephonic visits.

As North Carolina's key metrics continue to remain stable and strong infection prevention and control requirements remain in place, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today issued a Secretarial Order updating visitation guidelines for nursing homes to allow indoor visitation.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is adding information about antigen testing to the COVID-19 NC Dashboard , including positive COVID-19 cases and deaths diagnosed with an antigen test and the number of antigen tests completed daily.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced today it will provide additional benefits through the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program to help families purchase food for children whose access to free and reduced-priced meals at school has been impacted by remote learning this fall due to COVID-19. The program provides a benefit on an EBT card that can be used to buy food at authorized retailers, including most major grocery stores.

A day after announcing the launch of SlowCOVIDNC, more than 50,000 people had downloaded the app. SlowCOVIDNC , the official exposure notification of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, alerts North Carolinians when they may have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 . It is completely anonymous and does not collect, store or share personal information or location data.

NC Medicaid beneficiaries on the NC Innovations Waiver who are attending school virtually due to the COVID-19 public health emergency can now receive waiver support during remote learning.