Pitt County Health Department receives accreditation with honors
'We celebrate each health department who has newly completed an accreditation cycle. Accreditation is a quality improvement process to help agencies identify strengths and opportunities as health departments work daily to serve their communities,' NC Local Health Department Accreditation Administrator, Margaret Benson Nemitz said. 'The accreditation process requires teamwork and dedication from health department staff, Boards of Health members, site visitors, and Accreditation Board members, all working together to identify, clarify, verify, and amplify the quality work taking place across our state. Each of these agencies has demonstrated their ability to maintain and/or exceed the standards established by the NCLHDA program, including throughout their COVID response. Congratulations!'
Receiving the Accreditation with Honors designation is a way to recognize agencies that have excelled in their accreditation assessment by missing one or less activities within each of five standards set by the NCLHDA program. Pitt County received this designation as well as 9 other counties, which include Albemarle Regional Health Services, Columbus County Health Department, Guilford County Department of Public Health, Jackson County Department of Public Health, Mecklenburg County Public Health Department, Montgomery County Department of Health, Rockingham County Health Department, Sampson County Health Department, and Wilkes County Health Department.
'The reaccreditation process is a rigorous and comprehensive undertaking that reflects years of dedicated preparation,' Pitt County Health Director, Wes Gray said. 'I am immensely proud of our staff for their unwavering commitment to excellence and for being recognized for the outstanding quality of work they deliver each day.'
North Carolina is actually the first state in the country to mandate accreditation for its local health departments.
For more information, contact Allison Swart, Health Education Division Director, at 252-902-2426.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Novavax Strengthens Position with Vaccine Approval and Sanofi Partnership
Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) is one of the 11 Best Short Squeeze Stocks to Buy Now. The company's non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccine is approved, strengthening its Sanofi partnership. A closeup of a vial of the biotechnology company's vaccines. Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) is a biotechnology company focused on recombinant protein-based vaccines using nanoparticle and Matrix-M adjuvant technology. The Maryland-based company has an approved COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, which is being commercialized globally through partnerships, including a major agreement with Sanofi. Currently, the company is expanding its product reach for emerging infectious disease prevention. On May 19, 2025, Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) announced that it had received U.S. FDA Biologics License Application (BLA) approval for Nuvaxovid™, a recombinant protein-based, non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. The BLA approval triggered a $175 million milestone payment from Sanofi. Later, for select markets, Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) has completed the transition of Nuvaxovid™ commercial leadership to Sanofi for the 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccination season. By Q4 2025, the marketing authorization transfers to Sanofi for the U.S. and EU markets will be completed, which will result in an additional $50 million in combined milestones. Additionally, in June 2025, initial cohort data from a Phase 3 trial for Novavax's COVID-19-Influenza-Combination (CIC) and stand-alone influenza vaccine candidates showed significant immune responses, with T-cell responses numerically higher than the comparator Fluzone HD arm. With the results suggesting increased duration of protection, the company is discussing potential partnerships for these late-stage assets. Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX)'s 29.12% short float signals heavy bearish sentiment. With it, the company is up on the stage for a sharp rebound with slight positive market sentiment shifts. While we acknowledge the potential of NVAX as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 12 Best REIT Stocks to Buy Right Now and 10 Stocks with Huge Catalysts on the Horizon Disclosure. None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data


The Hill
36 minutes ago
- The Hill
Hundreds of HHS staff call on Kennedy to stop misinformation in wake of CDC shooting
More than 750 current and former staff of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are calling on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop 'spreading inaccurate health information' and do more to protect public health professionals in the wake of a shooting at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month. The letter sent Wednesday to Kennedy and members of Congress accused the secretary of endangering the nation's health and the lives of his employees with his rhetoric. The staff noted the Aug. 8 attack 'was not random.' 'The attack came amid growing mistrust in public institutions, driven by politicized rhetoric that has turned public health professionals from trusted experts into targets of villainization—and now, violence,' the letter noted. Law enforcement officials said the alleged shooter was distrustful of the COVID-19 vaccine and thought he had been harmed by it. The shooter allegedly fired 500 rounds, and about 200 struck six different CDC buildings, pockmarking windows across the main Atlanta campus. DeKalb County police officer David Rose was fatally shot, and the letter writers said they wanted to honor him. 'CDC is a public health leader in America's defense against health threats at home and abroad. When a federal health agency is under attack, America's health is under attack. When the federal workforce is not safe, America is not safe,' the letter stated. The staffers emphasized they signed the letter in their personal capacities, and some remained anonymous 'out of fear of retaliation and personal safety.' The signatories said Kennedy is 'complicit in dismantling America's public health infrastructure and endangering the nation's health.' They cited his rhetoric questioning the integrity of the CDC's workforce, disbanding of an expert vaccine advisory panel, false and misleading claims about the measles vaccine and mRNA vaccines, and the agency's firing of thousands of employees in a 'destroy-first-and-ask-questions-later manner.' HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kennedy posted a message to social media the day after the shooting expressing support for public health workers. 'No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,' he wrote. 'We are actively supporting CDC staff on the ground and across the agency. Public health workers show up every day with purpose — even in moments of grief and uncertainty.' Kennedy visited CDC headquarters and met with the agency's new director, Susan Monarez, two days after the shooting, a time when most employees were told to stay home and telework. Kennedy has yet to address misinformation about COVID vaccines. When asked directly about a plan to quell misinformation and prevent something like the CDC shooting from happening again during a Scripps News interview, Kennedy deflected any direct link. The letter asked Kennedy to 'cease and publicly disavow the ongoing dissemination of false and misleading claims about vaccines, infectious disease transmission, and America's public health institutions;' affirm the CDC's scientific integrity; and guarantee the safety of the HHS workforce. 'The deliberate destruction of trust in America's public health workforce puts lives at risk. We urge you to act in the best interest of the American people—your friends, your families, and yourselves,' the letter stated.


New York Times
38 minutes ago
- New York Times
Why Covid Is Spreading Again This Summer
Covid cases are climbing again this summer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's forecasting model estimates that infections are growing, or likely growing, in most states. While the agency is reporting low levels of the virus in wastewater nationally, some states, including Texas, Utah and Nevada, are showing very high concentrations of Covid in their wastewater. Emergency department visits linked to Covid are rising, too. Researchers have braced for an uptick. Though the virus is largely unpredictable — variants shape-shift and symptoms can change from one infection to the next — Covid cases have gone up every summer since the pandemic began. Around this time last year, there were higher levels of Covid in wastewater than there are currently; this appears to be, so far, a milder wave. As of June, when the C.D.C. last updated its variant tracker, the Covid variant NB.1.8.1. — nicknamed 'Nimbus' — accounted for the most cases in the United States, around 43 percent. The variant does not appear to make people sicker than other recent strains of the virus, but it does have a few additional mutations that might make it more transmissible and better at evading the immune system's defenses, said Dr. Aubree Gordon, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Michigan. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.