Don’t be ‘complacent,’ health leaders urge while COVID-19 trends move in right direction
For the past month, the number of newly-detected COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg has been falling, but county officials and hospital leaders say “It is critically important that no one become complacent.”
State health officials reported 154 new cases in Mecklenburg on Tuesday, bringing the county’s total to 23,318 since mid-March.
At the end of last week, data showed the county was adding an average of about 165 new cases per day. Caseload data show a downward trend since late July, the Charlotte Observer has previously reported.
Other key metrics — Mecklenburg’s average hospitalizations and percentage of positive tests — are also showing improvement.
The downward trends are “encouraging news,” county leaders said in a joint statement Friday with Atrium Health and Novant Health. But the statement added: “.... COVID-19 is unforgiving, and letting down our guard can easily result in another spike of cases and deaths.”
On Tuesday, county officials said 266 people in Mecklenburg have died from the coronavirus.
Statewide, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported 1,263 new cases Tuesday, for a total of 146,779 and 48 more deaths for a total of 2,396.
Mecklenburg County officials urge residents to continue wearing a mask and following social distancing guidelines — especially as students begin to return to school.
“With fall approaching and schools, colleges and other activities starting, it may be easier to forget these basic steps that protect you and those around you,” the county and hospitals said in the Friday statement.
Public schools in Charlotte returned this week to virtual-only classes — amid some technology issues — but the area’s largest college, UNC Charlotte, plans to move forward with in-person classes starting on September 7.
The university said Monday it would continue with plans for on-campus instruction even as UNC-Chapel Hill announced it would cancel in-person instruction, moving to online classes effective Wednesday after a surge in coronavirus cases shortly after move-in began.
Mecklenburg COVID-19 update
As of August 16 — the last date demographic data was publicly available — county coronavirus data show:
▪ An average of 160 people per day have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in Mecklenburg. This data shows a decrease over the past two weeks, officials said.
▪The average positivity rate of tests over a seven day period was 6.7% — a decrease over the last 14 days. These data only include tests conducted by Atrium Health, Novant Health, CVS Health and Walgreens. Those providers conduct the majority of tests locally.
▪ Most people — about 60% of more than 23,200 cases — were under the age of 40. People older than 60 account for 12% of all cases reported but about 85% of all deaths.
▪ About 75% of people diagnosed so far locally have recovered and met the criteria to end isolation under CDC guidelines. Of all lab-confirmed cases, 1 in about every 20 has led to hospitalization.
▪ More than 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 263 deaths recorded as of August 12 were among people who had no known underlying conditions. Thirty-five of the people who died were between the ages of 40 to 59, and four people were under the age of 40.
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