Mecklenburg County coronavirus cases at 2,439, but no new deaths reported for 5 days

Mecklenburg County has seen a total of 2,439 coronavirus cases, according to county health data Friday afternoon. The number is cumulative since mid-March.

Health officials say 63 people with COVID-19 have died locally, with more than half of them during outbreaks at long-term care facilities. No new deaths have been reported since Sunday.

The county added 97 new cases from the previous day, Mecklenburg County reported Friday, up from an average of 62 new cases a day reported over the past week.

About two-thirds of Mecklenburg County residents who tested positive for the virus have been released from isolation, the county said.

The state Department of Health and Human Services, which includes non-county residents who were tested in Mecklenburg, reported the county’s case total to be 2,385, up 62 cases from the previous day.

Statewide, DHHS reported 622 new cases on Friday, for a total of 17,129, and 26 more deaths, for a total of 641.

With the trend of coronavirus spread stable, Mecklenburg officials said Thursday they will at least temporarily stop publicly releasing timelines that predict a peak demand on hospitals. The reversal came after a Penn Medicine data scientist said Mecklenburg is consulting a coronavirus model that’s no longer appropriate.

Last week the county also announced an expanded 30-day testing period, as part of a statewide testing increase. In the first six days of that period, through Wednesday, 9,880 of the 55,500-test goal had been completed, the county reported Friday.

Mecklenburg COVID-19 update

As of May 13 — the last date demographic data was publicly available — county coronavirus data show:

▪ An average of about 54 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 7% of people who were tested were positive, showing a “slight” decrease over the last 14 days, health officials say. The figure includes only COVID-19 tests conducted by Atrium Health and Novant Health.

▪ About 3 in 4 people diagnosed with COVID-19 locally were adults ages 20 to 59 years old.

▪ About 1 in 7 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.

Health officials say the totals may only be a snapshot because many people with COVID-19 symptoms haven’t been tested.

This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 12:09 PM.