Mecklenburg inches past 1,200 coronavirus cases. Nearly 20K tests done locally, official says

Another 48 positive tests for COVID-19 reported Monday brought Mecklenburg’s total to 1,231 cases, county officials said. The county’s death total is 31, with five deaths reported Sunday and two more Monday.

The increase in cases is higher than is typical of the past week, April 13 to April 19, when 32 new cases a day on average were recorded. The previous week saw an average daily increase of 41 cases.

Three infants are among those testing positive, county public health Director Gibbie Harris said Monday. All are doing well, she added.

The state Department of Health and Human Services counted 6,764 cases statewide Monday, a daily increase of 271, and 179 deaths. Hospitalizations, however, continued to drop from 465 on Sunday to 373 on Monday.

“In less than a month, we’ve already surpassed flu deaths for this season, which began in September,” DHHS tweeted. “COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death in the U.S.” with more than 40,000 fatalities.

In Concord, five people living in a nursing and rehab center have died amid an outbreak there, according to Cabarrus County health officials.

A factor called the “doubling rate” is key in helping state officials understand what healthcare resources they will need as infections spread. The rates also underscore the differences between coronavirus in the state and in its N.C. epicenter, Mecklenburg County.

Cases in North Carolina are doubling every 12 days, Raleigh’s News & Observer reported Monday. Confirmed cases in Mecklenburg are doubling every six days, about half the previous rate, hospital officials said last week.

Health authorities caution that, because of limited testing, the number of lab-confirmed cases is only a fraction — as little as 5% to 10% — of the true number of infected people.

Nearly 20,000 tests have been conducted in Mecklenburg County, Harris said Monday. The number reflects only tests by hospitals. Non-hospital testing centers report positive cases to state health officials but do not report the total number of tests performed locally, Harris said.

A projection model used by the University of Washington says North Carolina passed its peak daily COVID-19 death total late last week.

But Mecklenburg officials say that model isn’t widely available at the county level and might not accurately reflect conditions in Mecklenburg, which has twice as many cases per capita as the state as a whole.

The model Mecklenburg uses, from the University of Pennsylvania, last week predicted a peak in the county on June 8 — but officials say that date may now be mid- to late June as social distancing pushes the peak further away.

That’s a good thing because local hospitals are less likely to be swamped by a sudden wave of coronavirus patients, Harris said. But, she warned, “it does not mean that fewer people are going to be infected over time.”

Will stay-at-home order expire?

State officials have said that downward trends in total cases, deaths and hospitalizations, coupled with greatly expanded testing, will be key in lifting social-distancing restrictions that are increasingly being challenged.

Harris suggested Monday that Mecklenburg’s stay-at-home order, which like the state’s expires on April 29, is likely to be extended at least in part.

The county still faces “fairly significant limitations” on procuring equipment and supplies to test for the virus, forcing it to prioritize who is tested, Harris said.

“At this point in time in this county we do not have that,” Harris said. “At this point in time, it’s hard to say we would completely open up by April 29 without that happening.”

A third straight weekend passed, meanwhile, with most North Carolinians locked down at home under Gov. Roy Cooper’s statewide stay-at-home order brought on by the pandemic.

More jobs lost amid outbreak

The economic boom that propelled Charlotte from a regional powerhouse to a global economic hub over the past decade is over, struck down by the new coronavirus, says a report Monday from the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance.

The group, which is the chief advocate for businesses in the Charlotte area, estimates that the region lost 71,000 jobs in the first quarter of the year. That’s about 4.8% of total jobs in the area.

Charlotte-based Coca-Cola Consolidated is furloughing 700 workers, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The furloughs began Monday and are expected to continue through June 21.

YMCA of Greater Charlotte, which in March suspended all programming and furloughed more than 3,600 staff members, on Monday announced a reorganization as its revenues plunged. The organization extended the furloughs through May cut pay for the 200 full-time still working and cut 55 positions.

Unrelated to the pandemic, Charlotte-based Truist erased a net 800 positions in the first quarter, according to an earnings report Monday. The job cuts resulted from the merger of BB&T and SunTrust, which promised cost savings to investors.

Nearly 637,000 people applied for unemployment between March 15 and April 16, the state said, nearly all of which were related to COVID-19. The North Carolina Division of Employment Security is tripling its staff to handle the deluge of claims.

More than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment aid since President Trump declared a national emergency over the pandemic, a level the Washington Post reported has not been seen since the Great Depression.

Volunteers step up to help Atrium

Team Rubicon, a nonprofit whose volunteers are mostly military veterans, first responders, and medical professionals, is helping Atrium Health assess people who might have COVID-19 while keeping other parts of the hospital system safe from infection.

The organization, founded during the response to the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010, first helped Atrium’s CMC Main set up and staff a drive-through coronavirus screening tent. Last week, it helped set up a 2,500-square foot triage tent to assess patients with infectious disease symptoms while keeping other parts of the hospital as COVID-free as possible.

“Our core mission is to serve people on their worst day,” said Dr. David Callaway, chief of disaster medicine at Atrium Heath and chief medical officer for Team Rubicon. Seven of the group’s volunteers are still working at CMC.

The crucial need now is expanded testing capacity and an understanding of what their results mean, both essential to getting people back to work, Callaway said. Social distancing has saved thousands of lives, he said, but he advocates a data-driven process involving business, civic and public health leaders to decide how to unwind restrictions.

“The critical question is how do we get the economy back up,” he said. “Joblessness and the inability to feed your kids, that’s a health problem too.”

COVID-19 patients moved to nursing home

Atrium Health announced plans to move some COVID-19 patients into isolation at a nursing home and rehab facility in Huntersville.

The hospital system says residents of long-term care facilities or nursing homes who are sick may be moved temporarily to Huntersville Oaks, a skilled nursing facility north of Charlotte. Huntersville Oaks is among eight care facilities in Mecklenburg where coronavirus outbreaks have been reported.

The policy is in line with federal guidance released earlier this month. Huntersville Oaks has a separate air-handling system so air circulated in COVID-19 patients’ rooms won’t be re-circulated through non-coronavirus patients’ rooms. Most of the rooms for COVID-19 patients are individual rooms with private baths and showers.

Neuse prison outbreak

As a massive coronavirus outbreak continues to hammer Neuse Correctional Institution, state officials have begun bringing staff reinforcements from a nearby prison.

State prison officials announced Monday that they have temporarily closed Johnston Correctional Institution, in Smithfield, and are sending that prison’s employees to work at Neuse, in Goldsboro, about 24 miles to the southeast.

As of Monday morning, more than 350 of Neuse’s roughly 770 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19, according to Wayne County Health Department. It’s one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks of any prison in the nation.

This story was originally published April 20, 2020 at 11:14 AM.