Mecklenburg officials reverse course and will release names of nursing homes where COVID-19 hit
Mecklenburg County officials reversed course and announced Friday evening that they would begin to identify nursing homes with COVID-19 outbreaks, according to a press release.
County public health officials will now include the facility’s name in their biweekly data release, the announcement said.
“We hope this new information will help everyone better understand how this virus is impacting our community and the importance of protecting the most vulnerable among us,” said Gibbie Harris, Mecklenburg County’s health director.
Previously, county leaders had refused to release the names of nursing homes that had an outbreak - cases in which at least two residents test positive for the coronavirus.
The refusal went against the strategies of other counties, including Wake, Durham and Union counties, which have been releasing the names of nursing homes where an outbreak occurred.
Earlier this week, Harris said there was no need to release the facility’s name, “because we’ve been able to work with those facilities to contain the infection, the spread of it.”
Yet outbreaks are happening.
According to data compiled by the Raleigh News & Observer, more than 800 people have tested positive for COVID-19 at North Carolina nursing homes and adult care facilities.
Five Mecklenburg nursing homes have known outbreaks – more than any other county, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services records show. In addition, two residential care facilities in Mecklenburg have had outbreaks.
Television station WSOC reported Wednesday that 15 residents and one staff member at the Social at Cotswold on Randolph Road in Charlotte tested positive.
According to an NBC News, COVID-19 has killed more than 5,600 U.S. nursing home residents as of last week. At the time, some 3,600 long-term care facilities in 29 states had a known coronavirus infection.
Neither North Carolina or South Carolina released data, according to NBC News.
As of Friday, Mecklenburg County reported a total of 1,136 COVID-19 cases and 24 deaths.
Carli Brosseau at the Raleigh News & Observer contributed
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 12:26 PM.
