Mecklenburg Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said Monday that residents are not taking the coronavirus pandemic seriously enough, even as the county grapples with more than 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

About one-third of the reported cases are a result of what’s known as community spread, making it difficult for public health officials to pinpoint how individuals may have contracted the coronavirus, Harris said. By Monday night, the number of cases locally had risen to 106 cases, according to County Manager Dena Diorio.

“People are continuing to act as if we do not have this infection in our community,” Harris said during the county’s first virtual press briefing Monday afternoon. “And that concerns me greatly.”

People should take social distancing recommendations very seriously, Harris said.

At this stage in the local outbreak, Diorio said it is crucial for residents to assume that anyone they come into contact with could be a potential carrier of the virus. Still, Diorio said, the county is not prepared to issue a shelter-in-place order, despite major cities like San Francisco taking the drastic precaution to curb additional exposure.

“We continue to evaluate the epidemiology on the ground,” Diorio said, adding the county is in daily conversation with the local hospital systems and emergency management personnel, among other officials.

Mecklenburg’s 106 cases of COVID-19 that public health officials announced Monday represented a spike of 26 cases since Sunday, when the county divulged crucial demographic information delineating the scope of the coronavirus pandemic in Mecklenburg.

Some or much of that increase is the result of increased testing, but test results are coming in “very slowly,” Harris said Monday.

Harris said there are more than 3,000 pending tests in Mecklenburg County, and she expects the number of positive COVID-19 cases to increase. Harris said she doesn’t know at what rate people are testing positive.

Testing delays vary across the county, Harris said — some people have gotten test results back in a day, others have waited about a week.

One in eight cases in Mecklenburg have led to hospitalization, Harris said Monday. Not all of those patients remain in the hospital, Harris said.

Mecklenburg leads the state with 106 cases, followed by Wake County with 52 as of Monday, according to the News & Observer. Some nearby counties also saw increases in positive COVID-19 tests Monday.

Iredell County reported two new cases, bringing its total to 8. And Catawba County announced three new positive COVID-19 cases Monday, bringing the county’s total to four. Union County had reported 13 cases, Cabarrus 6 and Gaston 3.

New state restrictions

Gov. Roy Cooper announced new restrictions Monday afternoon, banning gatherings of more than 50 people and ordering gyms, hair and nail salons, and movie theaters to close by Wednesday. But Cooper stopped short of issuing a shelter-in-place order, noting officials are developing an “option for every single scenario.”

“This is a rapidly evolving health crisis,” Cooper said. “I know that these actions cause hardship and heartache for a lot of people, but they’re necessary to save lives … We’ve already closed businesses that have a greater risk of transmitting the virus.”

The state now has at least 339 reported cases of the new strain of coronavirus, the (Raleigh) News & Observer reported.

Cooper also said public schools in North Carolina will remain closed until May 15, extending his previous school closure order.

The state has tested more than 8,500 people for COVID-19 as of Monday, according to Cooper. An additional 10,000 specimens are in the testing queue, Cooper said, as health systems and commercial partners — such as Burlington, N.C.-based LabCorp — increase production of test kits.

“The federal government did not give testing supplies that it should have to the states to deal with this,” Cooper said in a rebuke of the Trump administration.

In Mecklenburg, Harris said public health officials are being “very judicious” about testing. If residents are not in “serious condition,” Harris said, they should contact their healthcare providers for virtual screenings.

Mecklenburg breakdown

Nearly every ZIP code within Mecklenburg County has a confirmed COVID-19 case, Harris announced Sunday evening in a news release. Mecklenburg has the most cases in the state; Wake County was next, with 52 as of Sunday.

Updated demographic data to reflect the new cases reported Monday morning was not immediately available, a county spokesperson said.

But based on the confirmed cases as of Sunday in Mecklenburg, ZIP code 28277, encompassing Ballantyne, Piper Glen and other south Charlotte areas, has six or more cases. Another dense cluster of six or more cases was reported in east Charlotte in ZIP code 28205, including Plaza Midwood and Central Avenue. Four ZIP codes did not have any cases: 28204, 28214, 28262 and 28036.

Almost half of the confirmed cases involved adults ages 20 to 39, public health officials said Sunday. About one-third of reported cases were among adults ages 40 to 59. Mecklenburg residents ages 60 and older make up 17.5% of the confirmed cases, Harris said.

This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 11:12 AM.