Outbreaks found at 2 more Charlotte facilities, Mecklenburg adds 147 new COVID-19 cases

Two more residential care locations in Charlotte have active outbreaks of COVID-19, health officials said Tuesday.

The outbreaks were reported in two congregate living facilities, Starnes Group Home and Brookdale Charlotte East, bringing the total to 21 facilities with active coronavirus outbreaks in Mecklenburg County.

Mecklenburg has seen a total of 7,468 coronavirus cases, according to state health data Tuesday morning. The number is cumulative since mid-March.

The county added 147 new cases from the previous day, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported.

There is a growing health concern for Hispanic people in the Charlotte area as more than one-third of reported COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg are among Hispanic people, according to county data released Tuesday. Most of these cases are among younger adults, health officials said.

In the last 48 hours, seven additional deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported in Mecklenburg. County health officials on Tuesday morning said a total of 133 people have died locally.

From the latest demographic data available, for a total of the 128 people who died as of Sunday, almost all deaths were among adults age 60 or older, with 11 among those ages 40 to 59. Health officials say in all but two cases, people who died from coronavirus in Mecklenburg had an underlying chronic illness.

Statewide, DHHS reported 751 new cases Tuesday, for a total of 45,853, and 36 more deaths, for a total of 1,154. The number of people hospitalized in North Carolina reached a record high Tuesday, according to The (Raleigh) News & Observer. DHHS officials reported 829 people with coronavirus currently hospitalized, surpassing the prior one-day high in the state of 823 people, which came over the weekend.

Mecklenburg COVID-19 update

As of June 14 — the last date demographic data was publicly available — county coronavirus data show:

▪ During the past week, an average of 106 individuals with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infections were hospitalized at acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County. This represents an increase over the last 14 days.

▪An average of 11% of individuals who were tested were positive for COVID-19 during the past week. This represents an increase over the last 14 days. These data only include 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.

▪ More than half of cases have met the criteria to be released from isolation.

▪ About 1 in 10 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.

▪ Adherence to social distancing has decreased over the past two weeks, county officials said Tuesday, citing publicly-available mobility tracking data. “Despite this downward trend, social distancing remains higher than before the Stay at Home Order became effective on March 26, 2020,” officials said in a news release.

This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 1:05 PM.