Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on June 24
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We’re keeping track of the most up-to-date news about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases top 56,000
At least 56,174 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 1,271 have died, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday reported an additional 1,721 cases of the virus, up from 848 on Tuesday.
An additional 20 deaths were reported Wednesday.
Health officials on Wednesday reported completing an additional 17,457 tests, for a total of 791,285. The percentage of positive cases was 8%. On Tuesday, 10% of tests came back positive. That number dipped to 9% Monday after reaching 10% on Saturday and Sunday.
Health officials have said the percentage should be closer to 5% and have expressed concern about it and other key metrics.
Hospitalizations drop from record high
At least 906 North Carolinians were hospitalized with COVID-19 Wednesday, down from 915 on Tuesday, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Tuesday’s hospitalization count was the highest number reported since the start of the pandemic. It surpassed the previous single-day high of 883 hospitalizations set Saturday.
About 88% of hospitals reported data to the state Wednesday, compared to 91% on Tuesday.
State remains in Phase Two
Gov. Roy Cooper announced Wednesday that North Carolina will remain in Phase Two of his reopening plan for three more weeks.
Phase Two, which started May 22, was set to expire Friday, and more businesses would have been allowed to reopen if the state moved into the next phase. But state health officials remain concerned about key metrics, which have been moving in the wrong direction.
On Wednesday, the number of daily hospitalizations was the second-highest the state has seen since the start of the pandemic, as was the number of new cases. The percentage of positive tests has also remained high.
“Our cautious approach is like a dimmer switch, rather than an on/off switch,” Cooper said during a news conference Wednesday. “Over the past weeks and months, even as we’ve slowly turned the dimmer switch up and eased restrictions, we’ve seen community spread of the virus increase in North Carolina.”
In order for more restrictions to be relaxed, health officials want to see a downward trend or “sustained leveling” of daily trends in terms of the number of lab-confirmed cases, hospitalizations, percent of positive tests and people in emergency departments with COVID-like symptoms.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. DHHS, showed Wednesday that’s not happening.
“These concerning trends tell us that if left unchecked the virus will continue to spread,” Cohen said.
Face masks required
The governor mandated the use of face masks in public on Wednesday.
The statewide mask mandate will take effect 5 p.m. Friday, Exceptions apply to children under the age of 11, people with certain medical conditions and people exercising outdoors, away from other people.
Enforcement will mainly be the responsibility of businesses and stores. Businesses or organizations that don’t enforce the requirement can be cited. Individuals won’t be cited, but if a person enters a business without a mask and refuses to leave, law enforcement may enforce trespassing laws.
“We’re adding this new requirement because we don’t want to go backward,” Cooper said during a news conference. “We want to stabilize our numbers so we can continue to safely ease restrictions, and most importantly, get our children back in school.”
Some cities and counties in North Carolina, including the city of Raleigh, Durham and Orange counties, had already mandated the use of masks.
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles on Tuesday asked Cooper to issue a statewide face mask mandate as Mecklenburg County’s case count surpassed 9,000.
“I support this for all of our citizens because it provides additional meaningful steps to help combat the spread of COVID-19,” Lyles wrote on Twitter.
Businesses donate masks
Some of the largest businesses in North Carolina are donating 1 million masks in light of the statewide requirement that they be worn in public.
Gene Woods, CEO of Atrium Health, said at a news conference Wednesday that the hospital system, the Carolina Panthers, Bank of America, Honeywell, Lowe’s, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Red Ventures and other North Carolina businesses would donate the masks to people and families in need.
“The virus respects no geographical or political lines and it’s my hope that our elected leaders across this great state can come together to keep North Carolinians safe and also to return our state to economic health,” Woods said during the conference.
Ruling on Alamance speedway
A North Carolina judge ruled Wednesday that an Alamance County speedway cannot hold races during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ace Speedway held events that brought thousands of fans together despite statewide bans on mass outdoor gatherings. On June 11, Superior Court Judge D. Thomas Lambeth Jr. ordered the speedway to close.
The judge issued a temporary restraining order that barred further races. The order expired Wednesday, but the judge granted a preliminary injunction that mandates the speedway follow the state’s rules on mass gatherings.
Last week the track’s owners testified they took precautions to prevent the spread of the virus and their attorney argued the pandemic hadn’t spread enough in North Carolina to justify a state of emergency.
But Wednesday, Lambeth said the N.C. DHHS made a “clear and compelling” case that COVID-19 is a public health emergency and that mass gatherings like race track crowds are linked to its spread.
“It feels as if we have forgotten that we are all on the same team fighting this deadly and dangerous virus,” Lambeth wrote Wednesday. “We love and cherish our freedoms, and our human nature tends towards resistance when we are told what we can and cannot do. We resisted our government telling us that we had to wear seatbelts until it was proven with overwhelming evidence that seatbelts save lives.”
Travel advisory includes NC
Travelers from North Carolina will need to quarantine for 14 days in three states due to the spread of COVID-19.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will require everyone traveling from states with “significant community spread” of the virus to self-quarantine for two weeks, governors of the three states announced Wednesday.
The travel advisory starts Thursday and applies to states with a positive coronavirus test rate that’s higher than 10 per 100,000 people, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote on Facebook. It also applies to states that have a seven-day rolling average in which at least 10% of tests are positive.
As of Wednesday, that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Utah, Texas and Washington, according to Cuomo.
Cooper said during a news conference Wednesday that he disagrees with the advisory.
“I think that’s going to cause problems for families and for businesses and I think we’ve all got to realize that we’re in this thing together,” he said. “But I think it also tells us that all of us need to be more careful about washing, keeping six feet of social distancing and masking.”
Wake schools not planning to require masks
Wake County public school officials said Wednesday they could recommend — but not require — students and staff to wear face coverings when schools reopen.
Employees would wear masks if they check temperatures or are in contact with people who may have coronavirus symptoms. Masks would also be mandatory for visitors, unless the face coverings conflict with religious beliefs or health needs.
The proposal is similar to guidance from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Jim Martin, school board member, suggested a system that would allow the district to require face coverings, relaxing restrictions if appropriate. Officials are considering that approach before recommendations are presented on June 30.
Students will need to undergo symptom checks before boarding a school bus, per state requirements. Under Wake County’s plan, parents would be able to fill out a form daily, attesting their child is not sick. Without the form, the bus driver would question the child, and if the child fails the screening, the driver would need to park the bus and wait for a parent or guardian to pick up the child.
Students, visitors and staff will undergo more symptoms checks and temperature screening once at school. If they don’t pass, they’ll be sent home.
Fauci warns of increased spread in NC
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert on the White House coronavirus task force, told lawmakers Tuesday there’s a risk of “insidious increase in community spread” in North Carolina.
He was asked about the spread of cases in the state by North Carolina Democratic Rep. G. K. Butterfield while testifying before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The virus could be hard to control unless state and local leaders take action, Fauci said.
Fauci also said the growth in cases can’t be explained simply by more people getting tested, as an increase in the percentage of tests coming back positive indicates additional infections.
“When you have those kinds of increases, you must implement on the ground as effectively as possible the manpower, the system, the tests to do identification, isolation and contact tracing to try and blunt that surge of cases,” he said. “Hopefully that will be successful in the blunting of those cases, because if not, then you have the danger of having a gradual, insidious increase in community spread, which will be much more difficult to contain as the community spread amplifies itself.”
Mecklenburg needs more staff
Mecklenburg County public health director on Tuesday said her department doesn’t have enough staff.
Gibbie Harris said she is short on contact tracers and employees to investigate coronavirus cases. Mecklenburg, home to Charlotte, has been working with private and public entities to conduct COVID-19 testing.
Harris told county commissioners Tuesday that most health department employees have been working six days each week since March. While they can support efforts now, more testing and more cases will require more help.
“These folks are working tirelessly,” Harris said. “I’m working with my staff to come up with a staffing plan. It’s not sustainable, and we know we’re going to be in this mode for some time now.”
Triangle sees higher growth rate
The coronavirus is growing at a higher rate in the Triangle area compared to the rest of North Carolina.
The Triangle and other urban areas in the state, including the Charlotte region and the Triad, have seen increased coronavirus cases since restrictions have started to ease. Five Triangle counties are now seeing growth in cases as more businesses are allowed to open and people move around more.
On May 22, Wake, Orange, Durham, Chatham and Johnston counties had a combined 3,701 cases of the virus —17.1% of the state’s 21,618 cases reported at the time. But on Tuesday, the five-county total had grown to 9,964, or 18.2% of the state’s 54,453 cases.
Counties emerge as hot spots
Three Eastern North Carolina counties — Duplin, Bladen and Sampson — have been marked as coronavirus hot spots by The New York Times, which used data for its analysis.
The counties all fell near the bottom of the Times’ list of 100 U.S. counties with the highest number of recent cases per resident, behind counties in Alabama, Georgia and Texas.
All three counties are rural but play a role in the pork industry. Duplin is home to the state’s largest hog production company, and Bladen is home to the world’s largest pork processing plant. Sampson County ranks No. 2 in hog production and is home to the second-largest pork processing plant in the state, according to the N.C. Hog Council.
Coronavirus outbreaks have been reported at 28 meat processing plants in 21 counties in North Carolina, including in Duplin, Bladen and Sampson, according to state health officials. Some have also had nursing home outbreaks.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 6:59 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on June 24."
