North Carolina

"As cases across the country continue to rise, we've seen rapid increases in our key metrics here in North Carolina," Cooper said during a press conference. "Our case counts have broken single-day records on three separate days in just the last week, and the percent of tests returning positive has increased to more than ten percent."

North Carolina waits to see if restrictions will tighten as the Governor's current executive order is set to expire on Friday at 3 p.m. ET. As it stands right now, businesses are operating at a reduced capacity with most restaurant dining rooms shut down entirely. Some Business owners fear that further restrictions could force them to close permanently.

North Carolina reported a record 6,438 COVID-19 cases on Sunday. The grim report prompted Gov. Cooper to tweet out, “Our actions right now are life or death,” as his existing Coronavirus restrictions are set to expire this week.

Sam Howell threw for 287 yards with two touchdowns and Michael Carter added a season-high three scores on the ground as 17th-ranked North Carolina beat Western Carolina, 49-9.

84 deaths related to Covid-19 in one day is a new high for North Carolina.  That number was recorded on Wednesday, December 1 according to information provided by the New York Times.  So far this week the daily average number of Covid deaths in North Carolina is 41.  Comparing that to recent weeks, it is up significantly.  For instance, last week November 23-29 saw a daily average death rate of 31 per day, and the 2 weeks prior saw 33 and 29 respectively. 

It's been a tough week in Chapel Hill, where North Carolina lost its much-anticipated match-up with Notre Dame 31-17 last Saturday. Miami looms next week, but first the Tar Heels have to take care of Western Carolina. The Catamounts visit Chapel Hill on Saturday for a noon kick-off on WBT.

A North Carolina man is demanding a $2.5 million refund of a political donation to a pro-Trump PAC, citing “empty promises” in a new lawsuit filed in court last week. Fred Eshelman, a Willington businessman, donated the money to True the Vote, Inc. and is asking for all of it to be returned after the group’s efforts failed to prove fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Newsweek reported Eshelman wired the Houston-based organization $2 million on Nov. 5 and then sent the remaining $500,000 the following week.