Rising Mecklenburg coronavirus cases hit first responders, long-term care facility

One long-term care facility in Mecklenburg County has “at least three cases” of COVID-19, according to Health Director Gibbie Harris.

Harris said Friday during a public health news conference that she and others are monitoring nursing homes and long-term care facilities closely. Harris did not say which location had positive cases of coronavirus.

The managers, she said, “are implementing everything they need to to protect the rest of that population.”

State Department of Health and Human Services data show ongoing coronavirus outbreaks, defined as two or more cases, at five N.C. nursing homes and three residential care facilities. DHHS hasn’t identified those facilities.

Mecklenburg County’s coronavirus count rose to 601 Friday, county officials reported, an increase of 68 cases from Thursday. The county has had three related deaths.

“This only represents a snapshot of the true burden in our community,” Harris said in a media briefing. Many people who have COVID-19 don’t show symptoms and haven’t been tested, she said.

First responders test positive

Two Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers are among those who have tested positive for COVID-19, Deputy Chief Jeff Estes said. It’s not clear how the officers were exposed to the virus, he said.

One Charlotte Fire Department employee has tested positive, the county said Friday. Medic said Wednesday that a Mecklenburg EMS agency employee had also tested positive for the disease.

Many more first responders have been quarantined because they have been exposed to infected people, the county said: 14 from CMPD, 13 from the Charlotte Fire Department and 14 from Medic.

Statewide cases reached 2,093, a 174% increase in the past week, DHHS reported. By Friday night, 28 deaths had been reported. The 259 hospitalized coronavirus patients across the state represented a 41% jump from Thursday.

State-reported figures include all who tested positive for COVID-19, the disease from the novel coronavirus, while Mecklenburg’s figures includes only county residents.

Catawba County reported its first death from complications associated with the virus. The victim, in their early 70s with underlying medical conditions, died March 30 but the county only got test results confirming the disease on Friday.

Mecklenburg officials have said the county’s third local death related to coronavirus was an 89-year-old victim with underlying health conditions who died Thursday.

In a tweet that day, Mecklenburg officials had warned residents to “assume you’re going to be exposed if you’re out and about.”

The rising tide of positive test results for COVID-19 has included prison inmates and Charlotte’s homeless. It’s also revealed some gender and racial disparities.

Black North Carolinians are testing positive in disproportionate numbers, according to DHHS statistics that are missing race data for 653 patients. Blacks make up 22% of the state’s population but account for 35% of the coronavirus cases, the analysis showed. Whites, 71% of the population, are 59% of the cases.

Men have primarily been the victims among the deaths related to the virus.

Feds should do more, Cooper says

Gov. Roy Cooper, briefing reporters Friday, said North Carolina has received only one-third of the personal protective equipment for medical professionals that it requested from the National Strategic Stockpile.

Cooper credited President Donald Trump with negotiating ramped-up production of ventilators with manufacturers including General Motors, but said the federal government needs to do more to procure masks, gloves and other protective gear.

“The federal government can and should do more to direct industries to produce these supplies,” Cooper said. “This is a pandemic and we need armor to fight it.”

The state has received the last of three shipments from the federal stockpile and has been told not to expect more, he said. State officials have placed more than $100 million in orders to private sources, but most aren’t getting filled, Cooper said.

The state is working with N.C. companies to shift their production lines.

Cooper pleaded with residents to stay home as the first weekend of a statewide stay-at-home order that went into effect Monday approaches.

“Now is not the time for beach trips or neighborhood cookouts,” he said.

Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio said that next week the county may revisit its stay-at-home order to align it with the statewide order. The county order expires April 16, the state’s on April 29.

‘Whatever’s necessary’

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, who posted video replies to questions in a Twitter town hall Friday, said she didn’t know whether local officials would extend the county’s stay-at-home order into May.

Mecklenburg County’s local directive called for a three-week time period ending on April 16, though Gov. Roy Cooper later issued an executive order requiring all North Carolinians to stay at home until at least April 29.

Lyles said emergency management personnel will continue soliciting advice from Novant Health and Atrium Health, among other local physician groups.

”If we have an indication that the numbers are not trending downward, I’m going to support whatever’s necessary for us to get better,” Lyles said during her Twitter town hall.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said Friday that officers charged a woman with violating the statewide stay-at-home order.

The department said Cheree-Alexia Hercule, 28, business manager of Cool Cave Day Spa on Monroe Road, was charged Thursday after officers said the business refused repeated warnings to voluntarily comply with the order.

“This is the first citation CMPD has issued for all COVID-19 related orders,” a department spokesman told the Observer.

Hundreds of calls flooded into CharMeck 311 in a 10-day period last month regarding the coronavirus, an Observer review of 311 records shows. Most of the calls targeted businesses, followed by residential properties and open areas, such as parks. A few callers complained of crowds at churches, the data shows.

Meanwhile, Lyles said there “might be a chance” Charlotte would halt public transit during a potential surge of coronavirus cases, which local hospital systems believe will happen from mid-April to mid-May.

The mayor’s warning marked a sharp departure from earlier statements that Charlotte would not stop CATS buses or the LYNX Blue Line from operating, especially to serve healthcare workers who are considered essential employees under the local stay-at-home order. Diorio said shutting down transit has not been discussed in daily planning meetings.

Lyle said city staff will continue to assess best practices for keeping CATS drivers and passengers safe. Bus and light-rail lines are running on reduced schedules.

”Many of the people who work in the hospital take a bus or train to our facilities,” Lyles said in a video. “We’re doing our very best to keep our drivers and passengers safe with sanitizer, gloves — all of those things we’re asking each other to do.”

Preparing for a surge of patients

The leaders of the Charlotte region’s two biggest hospitals said Thursday they might run out of space to treat COVID-19 patients in the near future — and could see roughly 3,000 more patients than they have beds for.

Atrium Health and Novant Health asked Mecklenburg County to “take immediate action” to set up a field hospital on the UNC Charlotte campus.

“We’ve opened up every single nook and cranny in our current facility to expand our bed capacity by approximately 50% to accommodate the impending increase in patients,” Atrium CEO Gene Woods said.

UNCC offered six of its dorms to become emergency space under state and local efforts to combat the virus.

Unemployment claims swamp state

More than 350,000 North Carolinians have filed for unemployment since mid-March, state officials said Thursday. That’s when businesses starting closing down due to local and statewide orders trying to stop the spread of infections.

The research group WalletHub, citing federal Department of Labor figures, said North Carolina has seen the nation’s second-biggest increase in unemployment due to coronavirus, trailing only hard-hit Louisiana.

Numerous reports of problems have been filed about the website and phone lines at the state’s unemployment office, which has been swamped by the record job losses. A state Department of Commerce official vowed Thursday to fix the problems.

Arts groups reeling

Charlotte’s arts and culture scene, already reeling from a decades-long decline in funding and the failure of a November sales tax referendum that would have given the arts sector a $22.5 million boost, is spiraling downward ever faster.

Some groups may take years to recover, and others may never reopen.

Discovery Place temporarily laid off 75% of its workforce. The Arts & Science Council furloughed three full-time employees, laid off four part-timers and cut the salaries of its highest-paid staffers.

Americans for the Arts, a national arts advocacy group, said Thursday that North Carolina arts groups have already reported a loss of $8.1 million since the start of the pandemic. That number is expected to rise.

The Mint Museum says it expects to lose at least $1 million. Charlotte Symphony: $1 million or more. Opera Carolina says it stands to lose $130,000 in ticket sales alone. Tosco Music, a small organization in comparison to the city’s marquis institutions, says over half of its $420,000 annual budget will disappear this year due to the coronavirus.

This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 12:04 PM.