Mecklenburg County sees 430 new coronavirus cases, biggest one-day jump
Mecklenburg County added 430 new coronavirus cases on Friday — the biggest single day increase since the county’s first case in March, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported.
The daily number of new coronavirus cases in Mecklenburg has trended upward in the last month. From June 26 to July 3, the average number of new cases reported daily in Mecklenburg was 327. For the week prior, the average was 254.
Key metrics like hospitalizations and the percent of tests that return positive have also increased over the last two weeks, according to the Mecklenburg County Health Department.
Mecklenburg County has seen a total of 12,233 coronavirus cases, according to state health data Friday morning. The number is cumulative since mid-March.
Health officials say 152 people with COVID-19 have died locally, as of Thursday afternoon. More than half of those were people connected to nursing homes or long-term care facilities, according to the health department.
Statewide, DHHS reported 2,099 new cases Friday, for a total of 70,241, and one more death, for a total of 1,392.
Charlotte-area coronavirus cases at school
The state Department of Health and Human Services has identified two “clusters” of coronavirus cases at the Primrose School of Lake Norman and the Smart Kids #3 Child Care Center on WT Harris Boulevard in Mecklenburg County.
North Carolina considers a group of coronavirus cases a “cluster” — defined as five or more coronavirus cases at a school or child-case facility — rather than an outbreak when there is not enough evidence of “continued transmission within the setting.”
According to the state DHHS, the Primrose School of Lake Norman has three staff cases and two cases among children. In Mecklenburg, the Smart Kids child care center has one staff coronavirus case and five cases among children.
The Primrose School of Lake Norman is now closed, and staffers sanitized the facility when the initial case was identified, according to the Iredell County Health Department. The school will be closed until July 13 and is working with the local county heath department.
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 — are adults ages 20 to 59 years old.
▪ After symptoms of coronavirus subside, a person diagnosed may be “released” from isolation under federal Centers for Disease Control 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.
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 July 3, 2020 at 1:17 PM.
