North Carolina announced Tuesday that residents will no longer need a doctor’s referral to get a coronavirus test.

The order, lasting until Gov. Roy Cooper’s current state of emergency is rescinded, aims to encourage more Black, Hispanic and Native American residents to get tested.

Mandy Cohen, state secretary of Health and Human Services, also announced the creation of up to 300 free temporary testing sites throughout July.

The expansion comes even as Cohen said the state needs more testing supplies from the federal government. Cohen said she and Cooper discussed the need for more chemical reagents Monday with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

While test results previously took 2 to 3 days to get back results in June, Cohen said supply issues have increased current waits to a week in some cases.

“That request (for more supplies) is going to be harder and harder for the federal government to fulfill as we watch all of these states that are really surging with cases around us, they are understandably going to be prioritized for supplies,” Cohen said.

North Carolina reported a high of nearly 1,000 coronavirus hospitalizations Tuesday, along with a two-week low in daily completed tests with less than 13,000 performed.

Photo via the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

Related Stories
‹
North Carolina to Test All Nursing Home Residents, Workers
All North Carolinians living and working in nursing homes will soon receive a one-time coronavirus test, the state announced Tuesday. Mandy Cohen, the state’s top public health official, said the state’s effort to boost testing will be underway from July through the middle of August. “We know this virus is more vicious to those that […]
NC Positive Tests, Hospitalizations Soar in Holiday Weekend
Written by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Positive COVID-19 test rates and hospitalizations in North Carolina soared during the long holiday weekend, state health officials announced Tuesday, as a spike in cases led largely by the contagious omicron variant continues globally. The state Department of Health and Human Services, in releasing data for the first time since […]
Orange County’s Efforts To Equitably Vaccinate Minority Communities Show Early Success
While several of Orange County’s minority communities have been underrepresented in the COVID-19 vaccine distribution so far, the county’s efforts to mitigate these barriers appear to be effective when compared to those across the state. Despite the African American, Hispanic, and Asian American communities of Orange County respectively accounting for 12.4 percent, 8.6 percent, and […]
Kenan Stadium Can Soon Admit Fans Despite County Concerns, Restrictions
Now that Kenan Stadium has the ability to reopen a few thousand of its seats for Tar Heel Football games, some county officials are concerned. On Tuesday, Governor Roy Cooper announced that large outdoor event venues will be allowed to open at seven percent capacity beginning on Friday, October 2. The venues, largely athletics facilities […]
North Carolina ‘Reporting Error’ Fuels 200,000 COVID Testing Overcount
North Carolina overcounted its tally of completed coronavirus tests by 200,000 since the start of the pandemic, state officials announced Wednesday, blaming most of the error on a processing lab. The error doesn’t affect key measures such as the percentage of positive test results, they said. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state’s Department of Health and Human […]
North Carolina to Test All Prison Inmates, Staff Members
North Carolina prison officials released a plan Thursday to test all of its inmates and staff members for the coronavirus, following a court mandate ordering the state to release a proposal for universal testing by June 22. It will take at least 60 days to perform COVID-19 tests for all 31,200 offenders, Todd Ishee said during a […]
State Gives $35 Million to Local Health Departments for COVID-19 Response
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is allocating $35 million in federal funding to local health departments across the state to support their COVID-19 responses. The announced was shared in a release from Governor Roy Cooper’s office on Tuesday, saying each county would receive at least $90,000 with  additional funding determined by population size […]
State Health Department: COVID-19 Reaches All 100 North Carolina Counties
North Carolinians have been experiencing the COVID-19 outbreak for months, with nearly all residents seeing the virus impact how the live their daily lives. But before Tuesday, the coronavirus had not been reported in every county. Avery County, in the northwest region of the state bordering Tennessee, was the final county to have not recorded […]
State Health Officials Announce Testing Workgroup Including UNC, Duke Reps
Governor Roy Cooper and state health officials announced the creation of a new collaboration between the government, universities and private professionals to try and increase testing for COVID-19. The announcement on Friday shared the creation of the Testing Surge Workgroup, which consists of officials from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, and […]
Orange County's NC Reps, Local Governments React to Anti-Diversity and Equity Measures
As a bill in the North Carolina House aims to ban diversity improvement efforts, local elected officials from Orange County are speaking out.
›