Update: NC reports 87 new cases of COVID-19 in Mecklenburg, but no additional deaths
Mecklenburg County has seen a total of 2,591 coronavirus cases, according to state health data released Sunday morning. The number is cumulative since mid-March.
The county added 87 new cases from the previous day, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported. Though more-widely-available testing could have something to do with it, that’s an uptick — from May 10 to 16, the average number of new cases reported daily in Mecklenburg was 66. The week prior, through May 9, the average number of daily new cases was 50.
More than 1,500 people diagnosed with COVID-19 in the county have recovered and since been released from isolation, according to the latest figures released on May 13.
Late Sunday, county officials reported a total of 2,589 coronavirus cases. The county, unlike the state, reports cases only among residents. State health officials include in Mecklenburg’s total people who may be treated locally but live elsewhere.
Health officials say 64 people with COVID-19 have died locally, as of late Saturday. More than half of those who died were people connected to nursing homes or long-term care facilities, according to the health department. Mecklenburg officials say there are 13 known outbreaks, as of last week, inside residential care centers.
Statewide, DHHS reported 530 new cases Sunday, for a total of 18,512, and seven more deaths, for a total of 659. At least one coronavirus case has been reported in 99 of 100 North Carolina counties.
Eligibility for coronavirus testing in Mecklenburg County is changing and the county is working on scaling up testing, with the goal of testing 55,500 people over a 30-day period. To hit the goal, the county needs to test nearly 13,000 county residents a week, Health Director Gibbie Harris has said. In the first week of working toward the goal, the county fell short but administered close to 10,000 tests over a 7 day period in early May.
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.
“Many individuals infected by COVID-19 have not been tested because they are asymptomatic or do not meet current CDC recommendations for testing. As such, these results are very fluid and only represent a fraction of the true burden of COVID-19 in our community,” Mecklenburg health officials said late last week in a news statement.
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 17, 2020 at 11:26 AM.
