Novant Health

Novant Health says of the 375 employees who were suspended for not getting COVID-19 vaccines, nearly 200 are now compliant. The rest no longer have jobs with the health care system, which is based in Winston-Salem and has a major presence in Charlotte.

Roughly 99% of Novant Health employees have complied with the North Carolina-based hospital system's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Those who have not have been suspended and will be fired if they don't comply within five days. Novant is one of two major hospital systems in Charlotte.

In 2021, Americans will spend more than $ 4 trillion on health care, and the federal government expects that number to rise even more in the coming years. Costs are growing faster than the economy, and employers and people with commercial insurance coverage are covering a big portion of those bills. In Part 4 of WFAE's series The Price We Pay, reporter Dana Miller Ervin explores why, starting with rising hospital costs.

Leaders with the Charlotte area’s three largest hospital systems say their facilities are facing staff shortages and a strain on resources amid the surge in COVID-19 patients caused by the highly contagious delta variant and a low vaccination rate.

All Novant Health employees must now be at least partially vaccinated by Sept. 15. Previously, they had until that date to be fully vaccinated.

Medic, the agency that provides emergency medical services in Mecklenburg County, says its staff are stretched thin as they transport a growing number of COVID-19 patients to the region’s hospitals.

Some medical employees are protesting requirements for staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 at North Carolina's largest hospitals.

The Levine Museum of the New South is selling its uptown Charlotte location. The site is worth at least $7.7 million. Also in this week's BizWorthy: Some uptown law firms are calling employees back to the office. Will other businesses follow suit and wind down work-from-home policies? Plus, liquor sales in Charlotte have been going up. And up. And we take a look at claims about local hospital safety ratings.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 continues to fall across North Carolina and in Mecklenburg County. The daily COVID patient census at all but two of Novant Health’s hospitals has dropped to less than 10.

Children ages 12-15 in North Carolina will be able to receive a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as early as Thursday if the federal emergency vaccine approval process proceeds as expected.