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Tens of thousands of children across the Southeast remain out of their classrooms one week after Helene, the deadliest hurricane to strike the mainland United States since Katrina. They are cut off from academics, friends and stabilizing routines. Hurricane Helene ravaged school buildings, demolished football fields and killed young children and their educators. Dozens of schools are closed for the foreseeable future. (Closson and Sandoval, 10/7)

While progress is already being made after the storm, which resulted in water “permeating” Baxter’s plant, the company cautioned Thursday that it does not yet have a timeline for when operations at the North Cove site will be back online. In addition to the flooding at the site, which is the largest in Baxter’s global manufacturing network, bridges leading to the site were damaged in the hurricane, hampering transportation of remediation equipment going into the facility and some finished products unaffected by the storm that Baxter is seeking to get out to customers and patients. Baxter said it has helped set up a temporary bridge to support “limited transfers,” with the expectation that a permanent bridge will be installed by the Army Corps of Engineers and the North Carolina Department of Transportation “in the coming weeks.” (Kansteiner, 10/4)

Health care companies and nonprofit organizations have erected fully equipped field hospitals in North Carolina, in a pre-emptive attempt to treat residents injured by Hurricane Helene. But few patients had shown up Friday at the hospital set up in a large, white tent by Samaritan's Purse, an aid organization founded by Christian evangelist Franklin Graham, near the remote mountain towns of Newland and Linville, some 140 miles west of Greensboro. (Burke, 10/5)

A team of forensic pathologists, funeral home directors and DNA specialists is assembled in Charlotte to help state and local officials if the North Carolina death toll from Tropical Storm Helene continues to climb and the challenge of identifying bodies becomes unmanageable. Suzanne Sellman, a spokesperson with federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, said the Disaster Mortuary Response Team is ready to mobilize as soon as it is needed anywhere in the state. (Van Egeren, 10/6)

Providers and suppliers feeling the weight of Hurricane Helene and its aftermath will see accelerated and advance Medicare payments alongside other assistances and flexibilities, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Wednesday. Specifically, the agency said those in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster zones may request the payments on an individual basis. Enrolled Part A providers and Part B supplies must have billed the program for claims in the 90 days prior to the disaster’s aftermath and be in good standing. (Muoio, 10/3)

One day after Helene slammed into Asheville, N.C., leading to seven trees falling on her house and destroying her roof, Nicole McNeill read an alarming article that warned a second storm was barreling toward the area. McNeill, 43, had a panic attack, her anxiety spiking and her heart pounding. She knew she didn’t have enough gasoline in her car to evacuate from yet another disaster. But it was all a hoax. Across the Southeast, false rumors and conspiracy theories are flying about Helene, which made landfall as a major hurricane about a week ago, causing at least 229 deaths in six states. The misinformation is adding to the chaos and confusion in many storm-battered communities, including many rural areas that lack power and cell service, leading locals to rely on word of mouth. (Joselow, Oremus, De Vynck and Berman, 10/5)