20,000+ cases in 142 days. Here’s the latest on COVID-19 in Charlotte and Mecklenburg. 

Mecklenburg County has surpassed 20,000 total coronavirus cases and reached another grim milestone with health officials late Thursday reporting four more local people have died from COVID-19, bringing the total to 202 deaths.

It’s been 142 days since county health officials announced they’d detected the first case of COVID-19 in the Charlotte area.

Of the 20,261 total cases reported, close to half were identified within the last 30 days, a Charlotte Observer analysis of public health data shows. About 90% of the cases are inside Charlotte’s city limits, ZIP code data show.

Over the last four months, the number of positive tests day-to-day has fluctuated greatly. That’s in part due to the increase in testing as well as an increase in wait-times for test results. And the spread of the coronavirus, health officials say, is significantly impacted by an overall decline in social distancing as stay-at-home restrictions in North Carolina have phased out.

On Thursday, Mecklenburg broke a four-day streak of adding 300 or fewer daily cases. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported 337 new COVID-19 cases in the county.

To date, the highest one-day increase was on July 11, when the county added 450 cases, according to DHHS.

Also Thursday, DHHS reported 2,344 new cases for a total of 120,194 in North Carolina since March. State health officials also reported 38 more deaths, for a total of 1,903.

Gains in COVID-19 testing

Doctors, hospitals and drive-thru test services are administering nearly five times as many COVID-19 tests per day than at the start of community spread in Mecklenburg, according to a recent Observer analysis.

The amount of testing grew significantly in May and June — to an average of close to 3,000 per day, up from less than 700 tests per day, on average, in April. And now, in July, health care workers are testing close to 3,600 people per day in Mecklenburg.

Still, the number of new cases in early summer was rising faster than increased testing alone would explain. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued a mask mandate in late June and has twice delayed the next phase of reopening.

More recently, the positivity rate in Mecklenburg has stabilized at about 10 to 11 percent, though that is still about twice as high as state health officials say it should be to indicate the virus is under control.

Testing increased more modestly in July in Mecklenburg, compared to June. Data available for most of July indicates the number of new cases is tracking much more closely with the overall increased access to COVID-19 testing.

Yet the number of people needing hospital-level care for coronavirus complications remains a concern. The number of hospitalizations has risen steadily for the past 12 weeks and recently reached a daily high of 210 people hospitalized on July 26.

In recent days, hospital officials have assured elected leaders in Mecklenburg that local facilities have enough capacity and staff to treat coronavirus patients and non-COVID patients.

As of July 26 — the last date demographic data was publicly available — Mecklenburg has active outbreaks in 33 congregate living settings and two active clusters in child care centers.

Inside the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, 47 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, state health data show.

Mecklenburg COVID-19 update

The latest data available from Mecklenburg County Public Health show:

▪ During the past week, an average of 197 individuals with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infections were hospitalized at acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County. Health officials say this trend represents an increase over the past two weeks.

▪An average of 10.1% of individuals who were tested were positive for COVID-19. Mecklenburg County Public Health says this represents a slight decrease over the last 14 days. These data only include tests conducted by Atrium Health, Novant Health and CVS Health. Those providers conduct the majority of tests locally.

▪ Most people — about 60% of more than 19,000 cases — were adults under the age of 40. People older than 60 account for less than 12% of all cases reported but about 85% of all deaths.

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

▪ About 1 in 20 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.

▪ About half of those people who have died from COVID-19 locally were connected to “active outbreaks” in long-term care facilities or nursing homes. Still, three of the 169 deaths recorded as of July 26 were among people who had no known underlying conditions. Twenty-four of the people who died were between the ages of 40 to 59, and three people were under the age of 40.