Second NC COVID 19 vaccine lottery $1M drawing happening Wednesday

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Here are the latest updates about COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in North Carolina.

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12:28 p.m.

NCDHHS said there are 231 new cases of COVID-19. The percent positive has crept up a little after the holiday weekend, clocking in at 4%.

There have been 13,455 deaths in the state attributed to COVID-19.

In all, 56% of the adult population is now at least partially vaccinated.

TUESDAY MORNING HEADLINES

The second NC COVID-19 lottery drawing is scheduled to happen tomorrow.

It's the second of four chances you have to win a million dollars.

The first $1 million winner was Shelly Wyramon, a teacher from Winston-Salem.

To be eligible to win, you just have to have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine in the state of North Carolina.

Predictions of a baby boom during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown have gone bust in North Carolina, according to a team of researchers.

Data compiled by Carolina Demography showed that birth rates in North Carolina fell by 3.1% from 2019 to 2020, in line with a national decline of 3.8% over the same period, the News & Observer reports.

Carolina Demography is located within the Carolina Population Center at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Boone Turchi, an associate professor of economics at UNC, said the skyrocketing unemployment rates during the COVID-19 pandemic likely prompted many people to wait to have children.

Birth rates were falling before the pandemic. In North Carolina, birth rates decreased by 0.96% each year on average between 2015 and 2020.