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Storyline

COVID-19 in Orange County, 2020–2022

Closures, schools, the county health department’s response, mutual aid, and the pandemic’s unequal weight.

In briefFrom the first cases in March 2020 to the last emergency measures in 2022: closures, remote school, the health department's response, mutual aid, and the pandemic's unequal weight.

Read the 32 eventsAll storylines

10 works about COVID-19 in Orange County, 2020–2022 are indexed here.

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Restaurants on West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, open for delivery and take-out only
Restaurants on West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, open for delivery and take-out only

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 32 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Cat's Cradle plays its last shows before the pandemic shutdown Destroyer played the main room at 300 East Main Street on March 11, 2020, and Songs From the Road Band played the Back Room on March 13, the club's last shows before COVID-19 closed it. Heath said he began rescheduling on the night of March 11, when the NBA suspended its season, and the March 14 shows were cancelled.Search the index · Chapelboro: Venues in a Pandemic: Cat's Cradle
  2. COVID-19 transforms Orange County Orange County, Chapel Hill and Carrboro declared states of emergency on March 13, 2020, and the county and its three towns ordered residents to stay home from March 27. UNC moved undergraduate classes online in August 2020 after campus clusters. The county emergency, extended more than a dozen times, expired on May 1, 2022.Chapelboro: Orange County: COVID-19 State of Emergency Will Officially Expire (May 1, 2022)
  3. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools launches Food for Students meal distribution CHCCS, the Town of Chapel Hill, PORCH and volunteers began handing out free meals to students as schools closed, starting from about 20 sites. By December 21, 2020 the program had distributed more than 900,000 meals from 37 sites.Chapelboro: CHCCS' Food For Students Distributes More Than 900,000 Meals
  4. Orange County, Chapel Hill and Carrboro declare a COVID-19 state of emergency Orange County government and the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro declared states of emergency to prepare for COVID-19, allowing emergency procedures and funding. The county declaration, extended more than a dozen times, stayed in force until May 1, 2022. People: Penny Rich, Lydia LavelleChapelboro: Orange County Governments Declare State of Emergency to Prepare for COVID-19
  5. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools close under a statewide order Governor Roy Cooper closed all North Carolina public schools for at least two weeks from Monday, March 16, 2020, shutting both Orange County districts. CHCCS then began online classes for grades 6-12 and sent learning packets home for grades K-5 at the end of March while serving meals to students.EdNC: All North Carolina schools to close to prevent the spread of COVID-19
  6. Orange County Public Library closes its buildings and sets out a free book shelf With its buildings closed, the library kept the Hillsborough and Carrboro book drops and phone reference running, stopped charging late fees, and from March 18 set out a free book and DVD shelf outside the Main Library in Hillsborough. People: Lucinda MungerOrange County, NC: A Note from Lucinda Munger, Library Director
  7. Orange County Health Department identifies the county's first COVID-19 cases The health department announced that Orange County residents had tested positive for COVID-19 at the State Laboratory of Public Health and were isolating at home. Health Director Quintana Stewart said the response was shifting from containment to mitigation. People: Penny Rich, Quintana StewartOrange County, NC: Orange County Identifies First Cases of COVID-19 (media release)
  8. Orange County and its three towns issue a joint stay-at-home order Orange County, with Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough, ordered residents to stay home except for essential needs from 6 p.m. on March 27, 2020, three days before the statewide order took effect. Set to run until April 30, it was extended to May 8 to match the state order. People: Penny Rich, Quintana StewartOrange County, NC: Orange County to institute Stay-at-home order effective Friday, March 27
  9. Governor Cooper's statewide stay-at-home order takes effect Executive Order 121, signed March 27, 2020, took effect at 5 p.m. on March 30 and ordered North Carolinians to stay home except for essential work and activities, capping gatherings at 10 people. Orange County's joint order had begun three days earlier.NC DPS: Governor Cooper Announces Statewide Stay at Home Order Until April 29
  10. Mutual Aid Carrboro opens a COVID-19 solidarity fund for workers Mutual Aid Carrboro partnered with NC Piedmont DSA to raise money for workers sent home without pay, running a solidarity fund for emergencies such as evictions and utility shutoffs. Applications were offered in Spanish, English and Chinese, with interpreter lines for Karen, Burmese and Kinyarwanda speakers.INDY Week: Local Rapid-Response and Mutual-Aid Groups Scramble to Fill Federal-Aid Gaps
  11. Orange County reports its first COVID-19 death The health department reported that a resident in their 70s under hospice care at PruittHealth-Carolina Point, one of two long-term care facilities with outbreaks, had died of COVID-19 complications. The county then had 104 confirmed cases, and PruittHealth had at least 86 positive cases among residents and staff. People: Quintana StewartOrange County, NC: Orange County Health Department Reporting First COVID-19 Associated Death (media release)
  12. Orange County and the towns launch a Housing Helpline for emergency rental aid Orange County and the Towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough opened a Housing Helpline in April 2020 to connect residents with emergency rent, utility and deposit assistance. The county's Emergency Housing Assistance program paid out $2.5 million to 1,005 residents in 2020, and an Eviction Diversion Program followed in July 2020.Town of Chapel Hill Affordable Housing: County-Wide Program Ready to Help Residents Facing Eviction
Show all 32 dated events
  1. Drive-through food distribution at Chapel Hill Public Library serves 576 households PORCH, the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina and the Town of Chapel Hill ran a drive-through food distribution in the Chapel Hill Public Library's lower parking lot, serving 576 households, or 2,391 people, with about 40 volunteers.The Daily Tar Heel: Chapel Hill's drive-thru food distribution adapts in the wake of COVID-19
  2. Orange County requires face coverings Orange County and its towns extended the local state of emergency through August 31, 2020 and required face coverings from 5 p.m. on June 12 when people could not keep six feet apart. People: Jenn WeaverChapelboro: Orange County Leaders Declare Requirement for Face Coverings
  3. Orange County Schools votes to open the school year online The Orange County Schools board voted unanimously to begin the 2020-21 year with remote-only classes for at least the first four weeks, on the recommendation of Superintendent Monique Felder.ABC11: Orange County Schools will be online only for at least the first 4 weeks of the upcoming school year
  4. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools extends online-only classes into 2021 The CHCCS board unanimously accepted interim Superintendent Jim Causby's recommendation to keep classes virtual through at least January 15, 2021. On December 18, 2020 the board kept remote learning in place through at least February.Chapelboro: Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Extends Online Learning Through January 2021
  5. UNC reopening produces a COVID-19 outbreak UNC-Chapel Hill began in-person classes on August 10, 2020, reported four COVID-19 clusters in residence halls, private student housing and a fraternity within days, and on August 17 announced that undergraduate classes would move online from August 19. Campus test positivity rose from 2.8 percent to 13.6 percent in one week. People: Kevin M. GuskiewiczWUNC: UNC Chapel Hill To Move All Undergraduate Classes Online
  6. UNC Health opens a large vaccination clinic at the Friday Center UNC Health opened its largest appointment-only COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Friday Conference Center in Chapel Hill, starting with people 75 and older. Staff expected about 600 patients a day in the first week and up to 1,500 a day at full capacity.UNC Health Newsroom: UNC Health Opens Clinics Across North Carolina for COVID Vaccinations
  7. Orange County commissioners proclaim Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett Day The Board of County Commissioners unanimously proclaimed Wednesday, January 20, 2021 Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett Day, honoring the county native who grew up in Cedar Grove and attended Orange County Schools; she accepted by Zoom.Search the index · Orange County, NC: Board of Commissioners proclaim Jan. 20 "Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett Day"
  8. Orange County Schools students return to classrooms Kindergarten and first-grade students returned for hybrid in-person classes on January 25, 2021. Students in grades 2-12 followed in two rotating cohorts on March 8 and March 15, a month earlier than planned, after Senate Bill 37 required districts to offer in-person instruction.Chapelboro: Orange County Schools Board Moves Up Return to In-Person Learning
  9. Carrboro proclaims Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett Day Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle proclaimed January 26, 2021 Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett Day, after Hillsborough and Orange County had honored the Orange High graduate for her COVID-19 vaccine work. People: Lydia LavelleSearch the index · Chapelboro: Carrboro Honors Vaccine Developer, Kizzmekia Corbett, With Day of Recognition
  10. Health department vaccinates its first recipients at drive-through clinics By early January 2021 the Orange County Health Department had vaccinated about 1,000 Phase 1a personnel at drive-through clinics in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill and opened sign-ups for residents 75 and older, more than 4,200 of whom registered. People: Quintana StewartChapelboro: More Than 4,200 Register for Coronavirus Vaccinations in Orange County
  11. Hillsborough proclaims Dr. Kizzmekia "Kizzy" Corbett Day At an online meeting, Mayor Jenn Weaver read the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners' proclamation naming January 12, 2021 for Corbett, a Hillsborough native who helped develop the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine; Corbett thanked the board and urged residents to get vaccinated. People: Jenn WeaverSearch the index · UNC Health Newsroom: Hillsborough Proclaims January 12 "Dr. Kizzmekia 'Kizzy' Corbett Day"
  12. Orange County Health Department launches a health equity website The health department launched a health equity webpage to stay accountable to residents on racial equity, citing the county commissioners' June 16, 2020 declaration of structural racism as a public health crisis.Orange County, NC: Orange County Health Department Launches Health Equity Website (media release)
  13. Gaps in vaccination among Black and Hispanic residents reported Chapelboro reported that Black residents were 12.4 percent of Orange County's population but 9 percent of those vaccinated, and Hispanic residents 8.6 percent and 5.5 percent. The county was working with church leaders and advocates in a Human Services Consulting Group and had held clinics at the Hargraves Community Center and in Cedar Grove. People: Renée PriceChapelboro: Orange County's Efforts To Equitably Vaccinate Minority Communities Show Early Success
  14. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools students return for hybrid classes The CHCCS board voted unanimously on March 4, 2021 to begin hybrid in-person instruction on March 22, nearly a month before the April 19 start it had approved in February. Students attended in cohorts two days a week, and roughly half could remain fully remote. People: Joal Hall BrounChapelboro: CHCCS To Offer In-Person Instruction in March Following New State Guidance
  15. Pop-up vaccine clinic held at the Rogers Road Community Center The Orange County Health Department held a pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Rogers Road Community Center for Hispanic and Asian American residents, many of whom do not speak English, after local volunteers asked for one and printed flyers in several languages.WRAL: Chapel Hill organization provides vaccine outreach for non-English-speaking community
  16. Crook's Corner announces its closure On June 9, 2021, the owners of Crook's Corner told customers the West Franklin Street restaurant was closing, saying the COVID-19 crisis had made their position untenable. Gene Hamer and chef Bill Neal opened it in 1982, Bill Smith later led the kitchen, and the James Beard Foundation named it an America's Classic in 2011. People: Bill NealSearch the index · Chapelboro: Crook's Corner Restaurant to Close After Decades in Chapel Hill (June 9, 2021)
  17. Orange County Public Library reopens its Main Library building After more than a year of closure and appointment-only curbside pickup, the Main Library reopened with distancing measures under the county's plan to reopen facilities through July 2021. In Carrboro the branch at McDougle School closed on June 13 and the Cybrary opened for browsing on August 6.Chapelboro: Chapel Hill Public Library to Begin Indoor Book Browsing Again
  18. Orange County reinstates an indoor mask mandate As the delta variant spread, Orange County and the Towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough required masks inside buildings and businesses from 5 p.m. on August 11, 2021. People: Lydia Lavelle, Quintana Stewart, Jenn WeaverChapelboro: Orange, Chatham Counties Announce Indoor Mask Mandates Amid Renewed COVID Spread
  19. Orange County lifts its indoor mask mandate Orange County and its three towns ended the indoor mask requirement on March 7, 2022. UNC-Chapel Hill lifted its campus mandate the same day, and Orange County Schools planned to make masks optional on March 10. People: Quintana Stewart, Renée PriceChapelboro: Orange County Announces Plan to Lift Indoor Mask Mandate
  20. Orange County's COVID-19 state of emergency expires The county's COVID-19 emergency declaration, in force since March 13, 2020 and extended more than a dozen times, expired at 5 p.m. on May 1, 2022, making it the longest-running state of emergency in county history. People: Quintana StewartChapelboro: Orange County: COVID-19 State of Emergency Will Officially Expire

Places in this history

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 7 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

All places and the county map →

Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

Chronicles of the pandemic: Carolina Meadows, 2020-21

2021

Residents and staff of Carolina Meadows, a retirement community in Chapel Hill, record their experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 through poems, stories, memoirs, photographs and interviews. The volume was produced by the community in 2021 with the Southern Oral History Program at UNC. Subjects include older people's writings and the social life of retirement communities in Chapel Hill during the pandemic.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-2023).

NC Cardinal UNC CH Historical Society

[#MaskUpOCNC posters]

2020 · Orange County Arts Commission

Seven posters from the Orange County Arts Commission's MaskUpOCNC campaign of 2020, made to encourage mask wearing in the county during the COVID-19 outbreak. The set is in color, in English or Spanish.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: COVID-19 (Disease).

UNC

Toxic campus map

Goldstein, Bob, 1967- · 2020 · Bob Goldstein

Artist's map of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus made by Bob Goldstein in 2020, screen printed in color and folded as a sculptural book in the Turkish map fold. Yellow dots scattered along the campus walking paths stand for the 1,112 people on campus with COVID-19 at one point that fall. Subjects include pictorial works for the pandemic in Chapel Hill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-2023).

UNC

COVID-19 pandemic reflections : on the nation's first state university & its medical center and on the continuing education of a student of medicine

McLendon, William W. · 2021 · William M. McLendon

William W. McLendon's reflections on the COVID-19 pandemic as it touched the University of North Carolina and its medical center, written at Chapel Hill and last revised on May 23, 2021. McLendon, a physician, frames the piece as the continuing education of a student of medicine. Topics include Chapel Hill physicians and the history of the university hospitals.

Included because: Its title names this subject.

UNC

Office of University Communications records, 2009-2022

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Office of University Communications · 2009

Photographs and related files from the Office of University Communications at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009 to 2022, roughly 20,000 items in the University Archives at UNC, collection 40482. Topics include administration, faculty, staff and alumni, football and basketball, campus buildings, awards, public relations work, and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 to 2023 in Chapel Hill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-2023).

UNC

Bob Goldstein prints, 2004-2023

Goldstein, Bob, 1967- · 2004

Prints by Bob Goldstein, born 1967, made between 2004 and 2023, in the University Archives at UNC, collection 40360. The posters concern Chapel Hill lectures, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 to 2023 and the Department of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-2023).

UNC
Show 4 more

Archiving a Community In Crisis: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Archives' Carolina Covid-19 Collection

2024 · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

An account of the Carolina Covid-19 Collection, the documentation effort the University Archives at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill built around the pandemic that began in 2020. Issued by the university in 2024.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-).

UNC

Emerging from the Covid crisis : where do we go from here?

Cohen, Mandy (Mandy K.) · 2022 · Department of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Mandy Cohen, who led the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services during the pandemic years, spoke on what came next at the Department of Public Policy in Chapel Hill on March 23, 2022. Twenty pages with color illustrations and portraits. Topics include COVID-19 in North Carolina and public health administration.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: COVID-19 (Disease).

UNC

Carolina COVID-19 archive, 2020-2022

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives and Record Service · 2020

Born digital material gathered by the University Archives and Records Service at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill documenting the COVID-19 pandemic on campus between 2020 and 2022. About 800 items totaling roughly 34.7 gigabytes, University Archives 70097. Topics include coronavirus infections, student activities, students, and university faculty through those pandemic years.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: COVID-19 (Disease).

UNC

Installation of Carolina's 12th chancellor : Sunday, October 11, 2020, 3 p.m., Memorial Hall : Kevin Guskiewicz, twelfth chancellor

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · 2020 · The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Program for the installation of Kevin Guskiewicz as the twelfth chancellor of UNC Chapel Hill, held in Memorial Hall on Sunday, October 11, 2020, at three in the afternoon. Eight unnumbered pages with color portraits, published by the university.

Included because: Its title names this subject.

UNC

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this storyline. Research guide: Follow an event across several accounts.

Records of the time 7

Show all 7

Collections and databases 5

Local help

Related themes

UNC & Campus Life →Black workers and campus labor →Schools & Education →Buildings & Preservation →Everyday Life & Traditions →

Picture: Restaurants on West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, open for delivery and take-out only. CC0. Photograph by Mx. Granger; via Wikimedia Commons

More to discover

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The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

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Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026