Coronavirus cases surge again in Mecklenburg. Total for North Carolina now tops 250.
The number of people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Mecklenburg County has climbed to 77 as of Saturday, jumping nearly 80% since Friday, the county health department reported.
Mecklenburg, North Carolina’s most populous county, continues to have more COVID-19 cases than any other county in the state. Union County now has nine cases — the third highest total in the state. Cabarrus County has six.
The latest wave brings the total number of diagnosed cases statewide to more than 250, according to a tally by The (Raleigh) News & Observer. The total has risen steadily since the first coronavirus case was reported in North Carolina on March 3. Cases have been reported in 42 of the state’s 100 counties.
State-issued testing kits for COVID-19 — the disease caused by the new coronavirus — are still in short supply in some counties.
In response to a collaborative project by six newsrooms in North Carolina, many county health departments across the state said this past week that the state had initially made just three test kits available to each county.
Some counties, including Mecklenburg, have turned to private labs to fill the gap.
In a Thursday news release, North Carolina-based LabCorp announced that it now has the ability to perform more than 20,000 COVID-19 tests per day.
As of Saturday, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said it was aware of about 5,300 COVID-19 tests that have been conducted statewide so far.
The fast-spreading virus has prompted warnings about social distancing and bans on large gatherings. In the process, it has prompted schools, restaurants and businesses to close, hammering the economy.
Lottery offices, CLT parking lots to close
The N.C. Education Lottery, meanwhile, announced Saturday that it will temporarily close its claim centers to help protect the safety of lottery players, employees and the public during the coronavirus outbreak.
Starting Monday, all claim centers will be closed through at least March 31, the lottery announced.
The lottery recommends that players with winning tickets sign the back of their tickets and secure them. The lottery plans to extend claim deadlines for all winning tickets that could expire during this time.
When the state lifts its order banning large gatherings of people and school closures, players will have until 30 days after that date to claim those prizes that otherwise would have expired.
“We want to assure those with winning tickets that their prizes will be paid,” said Mark Michalko, executive director of the lottery.
Starting Monday, all but one parking lot at Charlotte Douglas International Airport will be closed — a change that reflects the sharp decline in airline traffic caused by the coronavirus.
The hourly deck will remain open, and the maximum cost for parking there will be will be reduced to $10 a day, the airport announced Friday. Parking for the first hour will remain free.
On the airport’s tarmac, meanwhile, an American Airlines plane was disinfected Friday night, after the airline discovered the plane had carried a passenger who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.
In an email to the Observer, the airline said the infected passenger flew on the regional aircraft “several days ago,” but did not make clear whether that passenger came to the Charlotte airport or whether the plane was simply in Charlotte when it learned of the passenger.
Hoax charge
The outbreak has also sparked public disturbances.
On Friday, police arrested a man who claimed he had COVID-19 in a Facebook Live video he posted from inside a Walmart store in Albemarle.
Justin Rhodes was charged with felony perpetrating hoax in a public building and disorderly conduct, Albemarle police announced.
Few hospitalized so far
On Friday, Gov. Roy Cooper announced that the state is not issuing a shelter-in-place order. Mecklenburg County on Thursday said it, too, has no current plans to order people to shelter in place.
In California, by contrast, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide “stay at home” order, asking all Californians to remain at home unless they have an essential reason to go out. In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has also issued a “stay at home” directive.
Since Thursday, N.C. state officials have reported the first two known cases in which people from North Carolina contracted the virus through “community spread.”
Until then, all North Carolina coronavirus patients had been exposed to someone who had tested positive for the virus or were connected to someone who had traveled from elsewhere. In cases of community spread, people are infected without knowing how or where they were exposed.
Many who contract the coronavirus simply recover at home. Just four patients in North Carolina are currently hospitalized, State Health Director Elizabeth Tilson said at a news conference Friday afternoon.
But North Carolina hospitals may not have enough beds to care for all the coronavirus patients who will need advanced health care as the infection spreads, according to a Harvard University analysis.
The projections in that study show that the Charlotte region is among the spots that could run out of hospital beds if the virus spreads quickly. ProPublica and The New York Times were the first to report the study.
But many North Carolinians have at least one reason to breathe easier.
Because of the pandemic, the North Carolina Department of Revenue and the IRS announced this week that the tax-filing deadline for state and federal taxes has been extended from April 15 to July 15.
Reporter Joe Marusak contributed.
This story was originally published March 21, 2020 at 11:26 AM.
.JPG)