Mecklenburg surpasses 8,000 COVID-19 cases, sees highest one-day increase this week
Mecklenburg County has surpassed 8,000 coronavirus cases, with 362 new cases reported Friday — the highest one-day increase since last Saturday according to the state Department of Health and Human Services data.
The increase in cases comes as Mecklenburg has done more testing, according to Public Health Director Gibbie Harris in a news conference Friday.
“The trends continue to move in the direction that is the direction we don’t want them to go in,” Harris said.
Mecklenburg has seen a total of 8,166 coronavirus cases, according to state health data Friday morning. The number is cumulative since mid-March.
Health officials say 136 people with COVID-19 have died locally, as of Thursday. Harris said on Friday there are active outbreaks in 26 long-term care facilities.
Statewide, DHHS reported 1,652 new cases Friday, for a total of 49,840. North Carolina has had 1,197 deaths, 22 more from the previous day.
Mecklenburg COVID-19 update
As of June 17 — the last date demographic data was publicly available — county coronavirus data show:
▪ During the past week, an average of 118 people 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 people 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.
▪ About 1 in 12 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 Friday, citing publicly-available mobility tracking data. In a news release Friday, they said this mobility is getting closer to baseline levels before the Stay at Home Order went into effect.
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 June 19, 2020 at 1:04 PM.