NC coronavirus cases increased by more than 1,600 this week; churches prep for online Easter services
North Carolina’s coronavirus cases shot up to 4,312 on Saturday, an increase of 404 cases from Friday and nearly 2,000 more than what it was a week ago, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported Saturday.
The department also reported that there are cases in in 91 counties, 80 deaths, 362 hospitalizations and 60,393 tests taken.
The DHHS reported 31 deaths and 261 hospitalizations last Sunday, April 5.
With Easter and Passover happening this weekend, and social distancing guidelines in place, churches and synagogues have moved to online worship services and prayer meetings.
Most Holy Week events will be online, though a few churches have planned drive-in Easter morning services that will be broadcast to congregants sitting in their cars with the windows up, The News & Observer reported.
Meanwhile, North Carolina is preparing for tighter rules on social distancing, which take effect Monday at 5 p.m. under a new order from Gov. Roy Cooper. A violation of the order can be prosecuted as a Class 2 misdemeanor, subject to up to 60 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Under the executive order, retail stores that are still operating can only admit 20 percent of the customers allowable under the local fire code — or five people per 1,000 square feet.
The order also includes new mandatory requirements for long-term care facilities. It includes stopping group meals and activities; screening employees before they enter the building; and increasing the monitoring of residents’ temperatures.
Closing in on 100 counties
The News & Observer is keeping a separate COVID-19 tally based on reports from the state and county health departments, which tends to be higher because the state takes longer to confirm cases. As of Saturday at 7:15 p.m., there were 4,398 cases and 87 deaths.
The virus had reached 92 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, according to that data.
Mecklenburg County has 935 reported cases and 12 deaths, the most in the state. Wake County reported 429 cases, Orange County reported 141 cases and two deaths and Durham County reported 277 cases and one death.
This past week, a number of congregate living facilities, including prisons and nursing homes, across the state have reported outbreaks of COVID-19.
There were 25 outbreaks at nursing homes, including two in Orange County that included the deaths of four residents.
The Orange County Health Department reported that a fourth resident, a person in their 60s, at PruittHealth-Carolina Point in Durham, where at least 86 people had been infected, had died of complications from the virus. Signature Health, a nursing home in Chapel Hill, reported at least 31 people had been infected, with more results expected to come in.
This week in numbers
The virus struck the state March 3 when Wake County reported its first case, but news that the epidemic had reached North Carolina did not spark an immediate panic.
Confirmation of COVID-19 in the Triangle was lightened by some of the details. That patient had traveled to Washington and visited a nursing home in the already infected state, making the outbreak seem initially confined to people who had taken great risks.
But the numbers quickly piled up, doubling every three or four days, and by March 28, coronavirus had spread to 1,000 people and prompted Cooper to issue a stay-at-home order that remains in effect.
By April 2, the case number had jumped to 2,000, and then hit 3,000 just four days later. On Friday, it passed 4,000.
If it continues at this rate, it will reach 8,000 by next weekend. As the state hunkers down for another week, it will watch tighter restrictions on social distancing go into place on Monday at 5 p.m. while the state limits retail shoppers to 20 percent of each store’s fire code.
While experts note that the case total is now taking eight or nine days to double rather than three or four, they also point out that questions about testing make its true impact hard to measure.
There is significant lag time in how long it takes to identify a confirmed case, and by Friday, the state had only tested 57,645 cases. So the true number may be larger.
“You need to account for that time lag, which is approximately 14 days,” said Julie Swann, an NC State professor who was worked with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s a breakdown of numbers based on data collected by The N&O from April 5 through April 11:
▪ New cases: 1,717
▪ New deaths: 49
▪ People tested this week: 20,348
▪ New NC counties with cases: 2
This story will continue to update.
This story was originally published April 11, 2020 at 12:28 PM with the headline "NC coronavirus cases increased by more than 1,600 this week; churches prep for online Easter services."
