‘Reopen Meck’ protest planned. State reports nearly 1,500 coronavirus cases in county.
Mecklenburg County health officials announced three more deaths Monday afternoon but only a small uptick in new cases from the coronavirus, as one local group plans to protest the state’s stay-at-home order this week.
The county reported 20 new cases of the virus, for a total of 1,471, and 43 deaths. More than half the people who tested positive for the virus have been released from isolation, the county has said.
The average number of new cases per day in Mecklenburg over the last week was 40. The previous week’s average, from April 13 to 20, was 33 new cases per day.
An average of about 70 people with lab-confirmed coronavirus infections were hospitalized at acute-care facilities in the past week, Mecklenburg health officials reported Monday. Those numbers reflect a slight decrease over the past two weeks.
An average of 9% of people who were tested were positive, the county said, showing a stable two-week trend with no significant increases or decreases.
Seventeen people who lived in Mecklenburg County nursing homes have died amid the outbreak, according to state data released Monday. Ten of the people who died were residents of the Autumn Care nursing home in Cornelius, the data show.
The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 9,142 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide Monday with 306 deaths. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
While the number of new cases continues to rise, state data shows, the proportion of people who test positive for the virus has declined in roughly the past week. Hospitalizations continue to rise.
Atrium Health’s first clinical trial
Charlotte-based Atrium Health has launched its first clinical trial for patients with COVID-19.
The international trial, coordinated locally by Levine Cancer Institute’s Clinical Trials Division, was launched in less than two weeks, a speed the hospital system called extraordinary.
Investigators at Levine aim to enroll one to two patients a week to assess a drug that Atrium says “appears to offer a promising treatment option.” No proven therapies for the disease now exist.
The trial will be available to patients at Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center, Atrium Health Cabarrus, Atrium Health Pineville and Atrium Health University City.
Novant Health became the first healthcare system in the southeastern United States to initiate Phase 2 clinical trials for patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms, biotechnology company CytoDyn announced in early April.
The placebo-controlled trial of 75 patients at up to 10 Novant Health centers will evaluate the safety of using Leronlimab, an experimental drug also used to treat HIV, according to CytoDyn.
Reopen Meck protest planned
Some in North Carolina are ready for the state to reopen. A protest group, “Reopen Meck,” has nearly 1,000 members on Facebook as of Monday morning.
“This group is intended to be an offshoot of the overarching ReopenNC movement,” the group’s description states. “With classes and work for many of us, it is difficult to drive up to Raleigh and protest. As a result, I felt that those of us living in and around Meck would find this group more accessible.”
“Let’s restore our liberties and freedoms no later than April 29th, 2020.”
The group was created April 15. Since then, Gov. Roy Cooper has extended the state’s stay-at-home order to May 8 and he says there will be a phased reopening after that.
Reopen Meck has an event planned for May 1, from noon to 2 p.m., according to a listing on Facebook. “We will be protesting in the heart of uptown,” the group says.
The protest location includes starting at Trade and Tryon streets in vehicles. Reopen Meck says its protest group will drive from there to 3rd Street then over to College Street. The caravan will go up to 6th Street, the group says, then turn back to Tryon Street.
“We ask everyone remain in their cars,” the event states. If protesters exit their cars to walk on the street, Reopen Meck says they should wear gloves and masks and observe social distancing.
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 10:47 AM.
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