Getting the Word Out

The Corona Times – April 2, 2020

One of the challenges of any pandemic is getting word out to the public and, more importantly, getting them to take a preferred action. We plan to share examples of how the word got out from various agencies during the pandemic. Today, we have 2 ads that were in the April 1, 2020 issue of The Mitchell News-Journal, published in Spruce Pine. The ads were published the week after Governor Cooper’s Stay At Home executive order was issued:

Ad for COVID-19 from AMY Wellness Foundation

On April 1, a report surfaced on WLOS television that described how officials are using data from Unacast, a company that gathers aggregate data on cell phones, to track phone locations in the various counties in North Carolina. This is helping officials see if requests to stay at home was being honored. The story reported that Avery, Mitchell, Yancey, and McDowell Counties all earned a D-Minus for staying at home. So, the message is not taking too well. But this is also giving a glimpse into the shadowy world of cell phone tracking, which some feel is a privacy concern. That’s a discussion for another day, What is important now is that there are still a lot of folks in our area not taking the Stay At Home order seriously. How will that impact us? I guess we will see.

We Want to Tell Your Story

If you have stories, images, or videos that you would like to include in The Corona Times, please e-mail mitchellnchistory@gmail.com with your stories and files for inclusion. If you have problems sending us videos, please e-mail and we will make arrangements for you to upload the video to us.

About the Numbers

You will note a series of numbers contained in the blog. They document the spread of virus through confirmed cases by the federal Centers for Disease Control and by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. These are the official totals provided by state and local government at the date of the post and do not include estimates or cases not confirmed by these agencies. This is our effort to provide an accurate gauge of confirmed virus spread as it continues during the pandemic.

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1,857

Cases in North Carolina
4/2/20

16

Deaths in North Carolina
4/2/20

184

Current Hospitalizations
in North Carolina
4/2/20

172

Cases in Western North Carolina
4/2/20

4

Deaths in
Western North Carolina
3/22/20

213,144

Cases in the United States
4/2/20

4,513

Deaths in the United States
4/2/20