COVID-19 in Charlotte area: Positive test rate triples in Gaston. 269 new Meck cases. 

Health officials in one North Carolina county say they’re seeing a “spike” in new coronavirus cases, causing the county’s percentage of positive tests to more than triple in recent weeks.

The percent of positive tests in Gaston County is now more than 17 percent — that’s up from 5 percent in mid-May. The increase coincides with a rise in the number of active cases, which reached an all-time high on Tuesday, according to the county’s health department.

Elected leaders and health officials say they’re worried about this latest trend. Experts view the metric of percent positive as a more reliable measure of the spread of the virus rather than day-to-day case count increases.

“This is more than just more testing being done,” Gaston Public Health Director Steve Eaton said in a news release. “Our percent of folks testing positive has risen significantly ... Nobody should be taking this virus lightly.”

Gaston is working on an advertising campaign to encourage residents to wear face masks to slow the spread of the virus. Under Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order, North Carolinians must wear a face covering or mask in most public spaces.

Meanwhile, the latest data from Mecklenburg County shows that cases continue to climb. The county added 269 new cases from the previous day, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported Thursday morning.

Mecklenburg has seen a total of 11,803 coronavirus cases. The number is cumulative since mid-March.

County health officials reported one additional death Thursday morning, bringing the total number of people with COVID-19 who have died locally to 152. More than half of those were people connected to nursing homes or long-term care facilities, according to the health department.

Statewide, DHHS reported 1,629 new cases Thursday, for a total of 68,142, and 18 more deaths, for a total of 1,391.

Mecklenburg COVID-19 update

As of June 30 — the last date demographic data was publicly available — county coronavirus data show:

▪ During the past week, an average of 144 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 11.2% of individuals who were tested were positive for COVID-19 during the past week. Mecklenburg County Public Health says this represents a 14-day “stable trend.” These data only include tests conducted by Atrium Health and Novant Health.

▪ Most people — about three in four out of more than 10,300 cases — were adults ages 20 to 59 years old.

▪ After symptoms of coronavirus subside, a person diagnosed may be “released” from isolation under CDC guidelines. In Mecklenburg, more than half of the people who tested positive have met the criteria to end isolation, according to local health officials.

▪ About 1 in 15 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.

▪ The majority of people who have died from COVID-19 locally were connected to “active outbreaks” in long-term care facilities or nursing homes. Still, two of the 151 deaths recorded as of June 30 were among people who had no known underlying conditions. And 18 of the people who died were between the ages of 40 to 59.