2 new Charlotte childcare clusters reported. Meck COVID-19 data shows increases.
Public health statistics that capture the spread of coronavirus in Mecklenburg County show climbing trends. The jump, which mirrors the statewide trend, could be related to North Carolina’s move to Phase 3 of reopening and more instances of social gatherings.
And health officials on Tuesday reported two new COVID-19 clusters in Charlotte childcare centers.
Oakcrest Preparatory Academy and Calvary Child Development Center have joined the health department’s list of child care centers, schools and congregate living centers with multiple COVID-19 cases. The facilities have each reported five COVID-19 cases. A cluster is defined as at least five cases from a single location within two weeks.
Leaders in state and county health departments use a number of key metrics to assess the spread of the virus, including hospitalizations, the average number of new cases and the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests. According to the latest data from the Mecklenburg health department, all three of those metrics have been increasing over the last 14 days.
That’s just more than two weeks since Gov. Roy Cooper loosened pandemic restrictions on businesses like bars, movie theaters and music venues. Mecklenburg health Director Gibbie Harris and other leaders have said it takes roughly two weeks to see the effect of policy changes in data that track new COVID-19 cases.
As of Tuesday, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services figures show a cumulative 32,038 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in Mecklenburg since mid-March. A total of 377 deaths in the county are attributed to COVID-19, health department data show.
Both DHHS data and county health data (which includes only Mecklenburg residents) show the seven-day average of new cases has been rising since early October.
State health data puts the county’s weekly and 14-day averages of new cases per day at 195 and 167, respectively. Those figures include all positive tests administered in Mecklenburg, about one-third of which are taken by non-county residents who travel to Charlotte and surrounds for health care.
The 14-day average of new cases is the highest it’s been since mid-August but remains much lower than the peak seen in July in Mecklenburg.
The seven-day average of the county’s positivity rate has been climbing for a little more than a week, and the average daily count of people hospitalized with COVID-19 is the highest it’s been since mid-September. Area health leaders told the Observer this month more out-of-county residents are coming to Charlotte for hospital care as cases increase drastically in some rural communities.
At the same time, there have been several high-profile events in Charlotte in recent weeks that have been linked to COVID-19 cases.
The health director first urged that attendees of Mecktoberfest at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery get tested for the coronavirus. And on Monday, the county said it was investigating more than 23 cases of COVID-19 that may be linked to church events at the United House of Prayer for All People on Beatties Ford Road.
COVID-19 data and trends in Charlotte
As of Oct. 18 — the last date demographic data was publicly available — state and county coronavirus data show:
▪ Deaths and hospitalizations continue to be most prevalent among older adults in Mecklenburg. 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. There were 57 deaths in June in Mecklenburg, 64 in July, 81 in August and 65 in September. There have been 17 deaths in Mecklenburg in October so far.
▪ About 80% of all people diagnosed with coronavirus in the county have since recovered and been released from isolation, meaning enough time has passed since their symptoms stopped.
▪ The number of people with COVID-19 needing to be hospitalized in and around the Charlotte region remains the highest in North Carolina.
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 1:29 PM.
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