Charlotte sees COVID progress but 96% of life support patients at Novant aren’t vaccinated
The COVID-19 positivity rate in Mecklenburg County is the lowest it’s been in more than three months but progress isn’t moving quickly.
In hospitals, patients with the worst illness from coronavirus are those not vaccinated, says Dr. David Priest, infectious disease expert at Novant Health.
“The one number that’s not in the decline that remains consistent is that more than 96% of our patients in the ICU on life support are unvaccinated,” Priest said.
For example, last Tuesday, every single COVID-19 patient on ventilators at Novant Health facilities was unvaccinated, he said.
That comes as the country rolls out additional COVID-19 vaccines for adults who first took shots in early 2021. All three COVID-19 vaccines are now available as booster doses across Mecklenburg County.
And on Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s advisory panel authorized the Pfizer vaccine for use in children ages 5 through 11. That vaccine still must get approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before the vaccine will be available to those children.
Still, the testing positivity rate and COVID-19 hospitalization numbers across the state are much better than what doctors saw months ago, Priest said.
COVID-19 data updates
New cases: Mecklenburg is adding about 163 new infections each day, based on the most recent seven-day average. That’s down from the beginning of the month when the daily average was 220 cases. And caseloads are at the lowest point locally since late July.
More than one-quarter of the new cases from the last two weeks were among residents aged 25-39, county data show. A small percentage were among the 15-17 age group, with around 22% of new cases identified among children 14 or younger.
Positivity rate: The county’s average COVID-19 positivity rate dropped to 7.1% last week, slightly less than two weeks ago. However, the rate still exceeds the World Health Organization’s 5% threshold to guide decisions about loosening coronavirus-related restrictions.
Both the percent of positive tests, as well as other metrics of COVID-19 risk, are much higher than the threshold local leaders say would be needed to ease mask requirements, including in schools.
Cumulative: There have been 157,260 coronavirus cases in Mecklenburg since the start of the pandemic, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported Friday morning. County officials say 1,252 residents have died of coronavirus-related complications.
Hospitalizations: The average number of people requiring hospital-level care fell to 187 per day in the past week, compared to 269 two weeks ago. In late August, there was a peak of more than 450 people hospitalized daily.
ZIP codes: Most areas of the county saw drops in ZIP code-level case rates. The highest concentration of cases over the last two weeks was in Steele Creek, county health data show.
Vaccinations: Rates have slightly increased among younger Mecklenburg County residents — two weeks ago, only 57% of residents ages 12-24 had received at least one vaccine dose. That percentage has increased by one point for residents aged 12-17 and by two points for residents aged 18-24.
As of Friday, 61% of Mecklenburg County has at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 57% of the population is completely vaccinated.
Breakthrough cases: As of Oct. 28, the county has confirmed reports of 7,581 cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated residents. That’s 1.2% of all vaccinated people who later tested positive.
Deaths: Older residents have largely borne the brunt of COVID-19’s death toll in Mecklenburg County — 80% of deaths have been among people who are 60 or older. Almost 30% of COVID-related deaths in Mecklenburg County have been connected to active outbreaks at long-term care facilities since the start of the pandemic.
Hannah Smoot contributed to this report.
