North Carolina coronavirus cases near 53,000 as 10% of tests again come back positive
The percentage of people whose coronavirus tests are positive continues to be higher than state officials want.
For the second day in a row, 10% of total tests were positive, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, DHHS secretary, has said she wants positive results to drop closer to 5% of tests. The percentage is one of the metrics the state is using to gauge progress in containing the coronavirus.
The state reported 1,412 new coronavirus cases Sunday, bringing the total to 52,801 since North Carolina’s first lab-confirmed case in March.
Day-over-day COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped by 38 people, to 845, according to DHHS. It’s the first time since Tuesday that the number of people hospitalized has declined. The state count of total deaths from COVID-19 reached 1,220, with one death reported Sunday.
DHHS reported 14,434 coronavirus tests completed Sunday, bringing the total to 745,775.
The state has greatly expanded testing in the last month and recommended tests for some people who don’t have symptoms but who meet other criteria, and for those who have attended protests, car races or other mass gatherings.
It’s against this backdrop that Gov. Roy Cooper is set to announce early this week what steps, if any, the state will take to ease restrictions on business and leisure activities imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Phase Three is scheduled to begin Friday afternoon. Phase Two of the reopening plan started May 22 and allowed restaurant dining rooms, barbershops, salons and other personal care businesses to open with limited capacity.
Legislators are itching to allow more businesses to operate. Cooper on Friday vetoed a bill that would have allowed bars and gyms to open, The News & Observer reported. The legislature sent Cooper another bill that would allow skating rinks and bowling alleys to open. The bill would also allow minor league baseball parks to open at 10% capacity to serve food without games being held.
Cooper and Cohen have emphasized that wearing masks is important to curbing infections. Cooper is considering requiring people to wear masks. Durham, Raleigh and other local governments already require people wear masks when in contact with others who are not part of their households or are in places where they cannot practice social distancing.
12th Butner inmate dies
Another inmate from the federal prison at Butner has died from COVID-19, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a news release.
Wayne Delvin Littlecrow, 55, died Saturday, the bureau said, after testing positive for the coronavirus on June 1. He was placed on a ventilator on June 6.
The Federal Correctional Complex at Butner has one of the biggest coronavirus outbreaks in the federal prison system, according to Bureau of Prisons data. The low-security prison alone has 612 active cases among inmates and six among staff. Twelve inmates, including LIttlecrow, have died, as has one staff member.
LIttlecrow was sentenced in the District of Montana to almost 12 years in prison for sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact, according to the Bureau of Prisons. He had been at Butner since Sept. 22, 2015. Littlecrow had long-term pre-exisiting medical conditions that put him at risk of severe COVID-19 disease, the bureau said.
This story was originally published June 21, 2020 at 1:57 PM with the headline "North Carolina coronavirus cases near 53,000 as 10% of tests again come back positive."