N.C. Gov. Cooper 'strongly urges' schools to provide in person learning

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services released their daily update involving COVID-19 cases within the state.

As of Tuesday, there are now 682,726 PCR positive cases and 81,502 antigen positive cases, 2,741 people hospitalized and 9,409 COVID-19 related deaths.

That is 2,926 new total cases and 67 additional deaths from Monday.

In our local viewing areas, Northampton, Perquimans and Pasquotank counties case counts were not updated as of noon on the state's COVID-19 dashboard site.

Hospitalizations in North Carolina also dipped Tuesday as there were 40 fewer hospitalizations reported.

A total of 8,937,769 total COVID-19 tests have been completed in North Carolina.

Governor Cooper and the N.C. Coronavirus Task Force held a press conference on Tuesday. The focus of the conference was largely to urge school districts to begin to offer in person learning for students.

Health officials said ongoing research reaffirms that children, particularly younger children, are less likely to get and spread COVID-19.

Cooper said he strongly urges schools to provide in person learning and to continue to follow Department of Health guidelines when doing so. He added that there should still be remote options, but Cooper said if students are ready to return to school they should have that option as well.

When asked about getting teachers vaccinated, Cooper said teachers are in the essential workers group and said they are up next in vaccine priority.

Here's the breakdown of confirmed cases in local areas: