A week after the CDC announced May 13 that fully vaccinated people can skip the mask and social distancing, businesses continue to adapt to an atmosphere free of many COVID-19 restrictions. As a result of the CDC announcement, Gov. Roy Cooper on May 14 lifted most remaining state rules, including those regarding masks and social distancing for those who are fully vaccin ...

The president of the N.C. Medical Society and a leading expert on infectious diseases are urging the public to remain cautious in the wake of a decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 may go without masks.   Philip Brown, president of the N.C. Medical Society and chief community impact o ...

Millions of dollars in stimulus funds are coming to communities in the region, and while New Hanover County has adopted an outline for how its estimated $45.4 million could be spent, other governments are at different stages in the planning process. The city of Wilmington is expected to receive $25.9 million, the result of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill President J ...

The nation’s massive vaccination effort hit a snag Tuesday when, citing safety concerns, two federal health agencies called for a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.  Officials at the CDC and FDA are reviewing six cases in which a rare and severe type of blood clot developed after the person received the J&J vaccine, which, unl ...

Trial Management Associates, a Wilmington clinical research firm, and Bart Williams and Will Jones of Wrightsville Family Practice are conducting a trial of a new COVID-19 vaccine using plant-based technology and plant cells, according to an announcement Monday. Williams, the physician overseeing the trial, said in the news release, “The health and safety of our c ...

With large gatherings on hold because of the pandemic, it’s been a quieter-than-usual year at the Wilmington Convention Center. That wasn’t the case Friday, however, as Wilmington Health administered the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine to nearly 1,200 people at the city-owned center, which sits along the northern downtown riverfront.  Anyone 16 and ...

As COVID-19 vaccines are becoming more widely available across the nation, employers in the region are starting to ask questions about having a vaccination requirement at the workplace.   Local lawyers say employers can require their employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine and are now giving out legal advice to clients on the topic.   “As you could imagin ...

The leisure and hospitality industry continues to suffer the most among area economic sectors, according to Adam Jones, regional economist with the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The latest unemployment figures recently released by the N.C. Department of Commerce show that the leisure and hospitality sector in the Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

The Wilmington region just entered Year Two of the now not-so-novel coronavirus.   On March 14, 2020, Brunswick County officials announced the arrival of the first positive case of COVID-19 in the tri-county area, brought back home by an individual who developed symptoms in Louisiana.   Four days later, New Hanover County made a similar announcement, with Pen ...

The Wilmington Chamber of Commerce is working with the local business community to share resources and help conduct surveys around the region's vaccination efforts. Most recently, the chamber helped connect businesses with a survey being conducted by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to help gauge local organizations that might be interested in hostin ...