Mecklenburg County: 1,424 coronavirus cases, 8 nursing home residents among 40 deaths

Mecklenburg County reported 1,424 coronavirus cases and 40 related deaths as of Friday afternoon, but the health director sees stabilizing trends on the heels of Gov. Roy Cooper’s extension of a statewide stay-at-home order to May 8.

The figures mark an increase of 47 new cases and three additional deaths among county residents since Thursday. Statewide figures showed North Carolina’s largest single-day increase in new cases, with more than 400.

Eight of the local deaths reported so far were long-term care facility patients, county data released Friday shows. Active outbreaks are occurring in eight such facilities.

Asked if the county will be ready to relax stay-at-home restrictions after May 8, public health director Gibbie Harris said it will depend on data trends for the virus. For now, she said, rolling seven-day averages for new cases and hospitalizations appear to be stabilizing.

“It’s flat, it’s not coming up significantly and not coming down significantly,” she said.

Because it takes several days for virus symptoms to appear, Harris added, it may take a week or two after restrictions begin to be eased to see any effect. The county still expects cases to peak sometime in June, she said.

The county still needs more testing capability and protective gear for medical workers, Harris said.

A COVID-19 Business Leaders Roundtable, which held its first meeting Friday, will make recommendations on how businesses can reopen with the social distancing and disinfection the state requires. The panel’s meetings won’t be open to the public.

The county can’t extend its own stay-at-home order, which expires April 29, without the consent of Charlotte and the six towns in Mecklenburg. Because some towns favor relaxing the restrictions, that’s not viewed as an option.

Whatever restrictions the county sets after the May 8 expiration of the state order won’t be more stringent than the state’s, county manager Dena Diorio said Friday.

In a change to the county’s existing order, Diorio said the county will now allow drive-up or drive-thru church services, but not drive-up communions. Previously, faith-based organizations were allowed to live stream services but limited them to 10 or fewer people on the site.

Most recent Mecklenburg virus data

Details among the data update the county released Friday:

▪ About 75% of the 1,400 cases reported were among adults 20 to 59, the county said, but three were among infants less than a year old.

▪ Black people have tested positive for COVID-19 in disproportionate numbers — they’re 46% of all cases but 33% of the county’s population.

▪ More than half the people who tested positive for COVID-19 have been released from isolation. About 91 county residents are hospitalized as of Friday, Harris said.

▪ About 20% of diagnosed patients have been hospitalized, with adults 60 and older four more times to be admitted than younger people.

▪ Almost all deaths have been in people 60 and older with underlying medical conditions. Two people, Harris said, were in their 50s.

Mecklenburg County has averaged 36 new coronavirus cases a day between the peak of 86 cases on April 6 and Thursday, according to state data. Daily additions have fluctuated widely.

Preliminary state data show 240 new cases a day were added statewide in the first three weeks of April. Total cases tripled in that time.

DHHS on Friday reported 8,052 coronavirus cases statewide, an increase of 444 new cases and the biggest one-day increase since the outbreak began. The state’s death total rose by 16, to 269. DHHS, which includes non-county residents in its figures, reported 1,407 cases in Mecklenburg.

But state Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen has said the data also points to a slowing in the increase of new cases that indicates social distancing is having a positive effect.

North Carolina phased reopening

North Carolina’s public schools will remain closed for the rest of the school year, Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday in an announcement that he would extend his order originally set through May 15.

The three-phased easing of the statewide stay-at-home order will depend on new cases, deaths and hospitalizations from the virus all trending downward, testing being expanded and the state securing more protective gear for medical workers.

North Carolina’s public schools will remain closed for the rest of the school year as part of an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Cooper said he made the decision after consulting with public health and education officials.

North Carolina joins 41 other states, three U.S. territories and the District of Columbia that have ordered or recommended that school buildings be closed for the rest of the academic year, according to Education Week. The closures are affecting around 43 million students.

The first phase of relaxed restrictions, after May 8, would allow people to leave home for commercial purposes. Retailers such as clothing, sporting goods and book stores could reopen with social-distancing limitations. Gatherings of more than 10 people would continue to be banned, but parks could reopen.

A second phase, two to three weeks later if health trends are still positive, would lift the stay-at-home order and allow bars, restaurants and churches that are now closed to reopen with capacity limitations.

Some of Mecklenburg’s surrounding counties, including Gaston, Lincoln and Union, pushed back against Cooper’s decision, saying it will cause needless economic harm.

“The data in Gaston County, the capacity at our hospital and the information from our health department does not support the continued shutting down of our businesses and our churches,” commissioners Chairman Tracy Philbeck said. “I cannot justify what the governor is doing to our citizens.”

This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 10:12 AM.