Latest coronavirus data: 72 new cases in Meck, 500+ deaths in North Carolina
Mecklenburg County’s total number of coronavirus cases since mid-March reached 1,932 on Thursday, according to health director Gibbie Harris.
As of midday, 59 COVID-19-related deaths have been reported, Harris said. Earlier this week, when there was a reported 52 deaths, county officials said nearly half were connected to long-term care facilities, including nursing homes.
According to the state’s tally Thursday, the county added 72 new cases from the previous day.
The state’s report Thursday morning marked the county’s fourth-largest single-day increase since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the county on March 11. It comes after a spike on Wednesday of 92 new cases, the largest single-day increase Mecklenburg has seen so far.
The higher numbers are, in part, due to increased testing. More than 3% of the county’s population has been tested and the overwhelming majority have come back negative, health officials say. And testing is expected to ramp up even more over the next 30 days, with the county planning to test an additional 50,000 people, roughly 5% of the population.
Still, health officials said Wednesday the county’s trend remains “stable.” And the percentage of positive tests in Mecklenburg — which takes into account negative results — has slightly decreased in the last two weeks, according to the Mecklenburg Health Department.
Roughly two in every three reported Mecklenburg County COVID-19 cases have been released from isolation, county officials said earlier this week.
Statewide, DHHS reported 639 new cases Thursday, for a total of 13,397 across 99 counties, and 30 more deaths, for a total of 507. Health officials say the totals may only be a snapshot because many people with COVID-19 symptoms haven’t been tested.
Mecklenburg COVID-19 update
As of May 3 — the last date demographic data was available — county coronavirus data show:
▪ An average of about 65 people with lab-confirmed coronavirus infections were hospitalized at acute-care facilities in the past week. Those numbers reflect a decrease over the past two weeks, according to Mecklenburg health officials.
▪ An average of 8% of people who were tested were positive, showing slight decrease in the trend over the last two weeks, health officials say.
▪ About 3 in 4 people diagnosed with COVID-19 locally were adults ages 20 to 59 years old.
▪ About 1 in 6 people diagnosed were hospitalized due to their illness. People age 60 or older were more likely to need hospital care compared to younger people with coronavirus.
▪ Six nursing homes and six long-term residential care facilities have outbreaks of coronavirus in Mecklenburg County. Harris said Thursday one has now been cleared of “active outbreak” status, meaning no new cases have emerged in 28 days.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhy don't we know how many tests have been done in Mecklenburg County?
Mecklenburg County Health Department collects data from local hospitals on the number of tests administered. County officials have said they do not know how many tests have been done outside of hospitals.
Non-hospital test centers and private labs report the number of tests and outcomes directly to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The state health department reports on its website a daily count of the number of tests performed across North Carolina. A county-by-county breakdown of the number of tests has not been provided publicly.
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 11:32 AM.
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