Mecklenburg has three more coronavirus deaths, as tension between health, work rises

Mecklenburg County reported three more coronavirus deaths Friday, making the deaths of 24 county residents attributable to COVID-19. The county’s total case count rose to 1,136, an increase of 38 cases from Thursday.

Statewide figures again showed a sharp rise in new cases, to 5,859 cases Friday, a jump of 394 new cases after a gain of 342 cases on Thursday. Reported deaths in North Carolina rose from 131 on Thursday to 152 on Friday.

Despite the increase in new cases, the number of people hospitalized by the highly contagious COVID-19 across the state fell Friday to 429, 23 fewer than the previous day. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

State officials have said that downward trends in new cases, deaths and hospitalizations, coupled with more extensive testing, will be key in relieving social-distancing restrictions that have closed businesses statewide.

More than 535,000 people in the state filed for unemployment because of COVID-19 between March 15 and April 15, the state Division of Employment Security says. Workers whose roles have been deemed essential face hard choices between keeping their jobs or risking their health.

That tension has spurred national outcries for more protections for workers — and spurred a debate over who is truly essential.

“I’m scared for my health. But I’m also scared that I’m going to have nothing for me and my kids,” an employee of a shipping facility at Charlotte Douglas International Airport told the Observer.

Mecklenburg County officials said Thursday that people should wear cloth face coverings when they go to grocery stores, pharmacies and other public places.

Gov. Roy Cooper’s statewide stay-at-home order March 27 came with a loophole that thousands of businesses have exploited, the Observer reported Friday: They could ask the state Department of Revenue to rule that individual companies were essential.

Most got their way. Out of roughly 4,000 applicants through April 7, about 85% were granted a waiver and deemed essential, an Observer analysis of department data found.

Two Harris Teeter employees at the Indian Trail distribution center in Union County have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the grocer said Thursday. Three workers at a Greensboro distribution center also tested positive.

Four more Amazon workers in Charlotte have tested positive for COVID-19, the company confirmed Thursday, bringing to seven the number of positive tests at Amazon facilities in the region.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police recently issued three more citations to employees of businesses accusing them of violating Mecklenburg County’s stay-at-home order.

Workers at two smoke shops — Cloudzilla on Central Avenue and High Life on North Tyron Street — were issued citations on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, CMPD reported. An employee at the arts and crafts chain Michael’s on Rea Road was cited on April 8.

Cloudzilla owner Fadi Shalo said the county is unfairly punishing small businesses. Shalo said that police warned him in person on Saturday and told him after issuing the citation that he could be arrested if he continues to operate his store.

“I am losing a lot of money and I have kids to feed,” he said. “Who is going to cover that?”

Federal help needed, Cooper says

State government has teamed with medical schools at UNC Chapel Hill, East Carolina University and Duke University to study how the disease spreads in Chatham, Pitt and Cabarrus counties, Cooper said Friday.

He added that North Carolina needs more federal help to expand testing.

DHHS said it has convened a group of public and private experts to plan how to increase testing, including expanded testing sites, and fix a shortage of personal protective equipment for medical workers who conduct tests.

The state’s testing of coronavirus symptoms has nearly doubled in the past two weeks, Cooper told reporters, but needs federal help in procuring protective equipment to further expand it.

“When governors are faced with global supply chain breakdowns with supplies and equipment, the federal government must do more,” Cooper said. “Easing (social distancing) restrictions with too few tests and supplies is like setting off on a three-day camping trip with only enough supplies for one night.”

The state has received most of the masks and gloves it has asked for from the Strategic National Stockpile, according to DHHS reports, but only a fraction of the gowns and face shields it needs.

Cooper gave no hint of whether a statewide stay-at-home order that expires April 29 will be expanded into May. But he said restrictions might be first eased in certain regions of the state instead of in individual counties.

Outbreaks at nursing homes, prisons

DHHS has reported numerous coronavirus outbreaks, defined as two or more cases, at nursing homes, long-term care facilities, prisons and jails. Thirty-five outbreaks are ongoing at nursing homes alone, including five in Mecklenburg County, the department’s daily report says.

A resident at a Charlotte neighborhood assisted living facility died of COVID-19, the facility confirmed on Friday, Observer news partner WBTV reported. Fourteen other residents at The Social at Cotswold also tested positive for the virus, the station said.

Raleigh’s News & Observer has reported that more than 800 people have tested positive for COVID-19 at North Carolina nursing homes and adult care facilities.

But unlike officials in other N.C. counties, Mecklenburg leaders refuse to identify what nursing homes have had known coronavirus outbreaks.

More than a third of the inmates at Neuse Correctional Institution have now been diagnosed with COVID-19. As of Friday afternoon, 259 inmates at the eastern North Carolina prison had tested positive, state prisons commissioner Todd Ishee said.

And an inmate who fled a federal prison camp in Butner and remains on the loose told Raleigh’s News & Observer on Thursday that he escaped because he feared death from coronavirus.

“I take ownership of having to serve my time,” said Richard R. Cephas, 54, who had been at the Federal Correctional Complex serving time on a drug conviction. “I signed up for a jail sentence, not a death sentence.”

This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 12:05 PM.