Press Releases

People caring for family and friends who require assistance with physical care, emotional support or help around the house can access free, skills-based learning through the North Carolina Caregiver Portal.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today released a coordinated action plan to address the urgent crisis of children with complex behavioral health needs who come into the care of child welfare services. The action plan represents the work of a multi-sector team of stakeholders that is working to transform the way that the child welfare, behavioral health and other systems that support children and families work together.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today launched Spring into Summer, a community campaign focused on increasing rates of COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters for adults and children.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced that an average of nine North Carolinians died each day from a drug overdose in 2020, a 40% increase from the previous year.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today released its plan for the current stage of the pandemic, Moving Forward Together (Spanish). NCDHHS also announced upcoming changes to its COVID-19 Data Dashboard starting March 23.

North Carolina is earning national recognition for its success in helping low-income families through a new water assistance program for households affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will host a live fireside chat and tele-town hall on March 10 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. to discuss COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 and older.

To ensure more North Carolinians have access to the information they need to make decisions about their health and wellbeing, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has made key COVID-19 vaccine information available in the state’s most used languages. In addition to a dedicated Spanish webpage for COVID-19 vaccines, vacunate.nc.gov, materials and videos in English and Spanish, NCDHHS now has COVID-19 vaccine materials in the state’s five other most used languages.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is cautioning families about certain infant formula that has been recalled by Abbott for potentially containing a bacteria that can lead to hospitalization in infants. The recall includes powdered formulas Similac, Alimentum, EleCare and EleCare Jr., and they should not be used.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will host a live fireside chat and tele-town hall today, Feb. 16, from 6–7 p.m. to discuss COVID-19 vaccines, boosters and more. In recognition of Black History Month, the event will hone in on health disparities and initiatives to advance health equity.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with North Carolina’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, is hosting a mental health summit to assess the mental health needs of minority students on campus and the effects of the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination for people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services encourages North Carolinians to seek mental health support through the Hope4NC helpline (1-855-587-3463) available 24/7 via call, text or chat.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced updates have been made to the StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit focusing on strategies that are most effective at this stage of the pandemic, like vaccines, boosters, testing and masking, and no longer recommending individual contact tracing in K-12 schools. Additionally, NCDHHS recommends students and staff no longer be required to stay home from school following a COVID-19 exposure, unless they have symptoms or test positive.

The North Carolina National Guard is deploying guard members to Alamance Regional Medical Center, part of the Cone Health System, in Burlington, N.C. to support staff and hospital operations. The 25 NCNG soldiers and airmen will arrive Thursday morning.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the Food and Nutrition Services program has expanded participation in the FNS Online Purchasing Program from seven retailers to 11. FNS recipients can access these 11 retailers online to make food purchases with their Electronic Benefit Transfer cards.

Wastewater monitoring data from North Carolina are now part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention national COVID Data Tracker (CDT) website.

To improve the health of Medicaid beneficiaries, and to reduce costs, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is building an innovative health care delivery system with a payment structure that rewards better health outcomes, integrates physical and behavioral health, and invests in non-medical interventions. The effort is part of Managed Care Transformation.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the launch of the Division of Child and Family Well-Being to help achieve its vision of children who are healthy and who thrive in safe, stable and nurturing families, schools and communities.

With COVID-19 cases reaching record highs last month, North Carolina laboratories reported 2,627,371 tests performed across the state during the month of January. This included 11 days with more than 100,000 tests and a one-day high of 135,031 on Jan. 12. To help meet the unprecedented demand for testing and promote greater equity in test availability, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 response team shipped 441,038 rapid antigen test kits across North Carolina since Dec. 23, 2021.