According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, at least 1,109 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 with 91% of hospitals reporting, a record-high for the state. It is the ninth time a new record for hospitalizations has been set this month.
Additionally, North Carolina reported 1,956 new COVID-19 cases and 23,623 more tests, with 11% of tests returning positive -- the highest rate since mid-June.
Though hospitalizations are high, NCDHHS reported that 27% of inpatient beds and 22% of intensive care unit beds are still available statewide.
The NCDHHS also reported at least 42 more people died from severe complications due to COVID-19, the largest daily increase in deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
>> Have questions about the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the Carolinas? We have an entire section dedicated to coverage of the outbreak -- CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
Note: The numbers we show you every day mean everything in how our community recovers from coronavirus -- both in terms of healthcare and the economy -- but they don’t mean much without the proper context and as much transparency as possible.
New cases vary day by day based on a lot of factors. That can include how long it takes to get results back, so a new case reported today can really be several days old. The 7-day average for cases is about 1,800.
The other big metric we watch is the percent of positive cases. This is data we can only get from the state because it’s not as simple as factoring a percent of new cases each day from the number of tests. That’s because test results take days and come from a variety of places.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced 2,205 new confirmed cases and 23 additional confirmed deaths. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 60,220 and confirmed deaths to 984.
The total number of individual test results reported to DHEC yesterday statewide was 10,262 (not including antibody tests) and the percent positive was 21.5%.
There are currently 1,550 hospital beds occupied by patients who have either tested positive or are under investigation for COVID-19, and 203 of those patients are currently on ventilators.
WHAT ABOUT CLOSER TO HOME?
As of this morning, there are 14,981 cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) with 168 deaths due to COVID-19 reported among Mecklenburg County residents. Data from Sunday, July 12, 2020 are presented below.
As of July 12, 2020, there were 14,446 cases of and 168 deaths due to COVID-19 among county residents reported to Mecklenburg County Public Health (MCPH).
These results only reflect laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 among county residents. Many individuals infected by COVID-19 have not been tested because they are asymptomatic. As such, these results are very fluid and only represent a fraction of the true burden of COVID-19 in our community.
Daily case counts provided by MCPH may differ from state and federal counts due to delays in reporting to the various entities. MCPH updates case counts after an initial case review and, where possible, a patient interview is conducted, which includes confirming county residency. Cases reported after 5 p.m. are counted in the following day’s case count.
Highlights about the epidemiology of COVID-19 in Mecklenburg County as of July 12, 2020 include:
- About 3 in 4 reported cases were adults ages 20 to 59 years old.
- More than a third of reported cases are Hispanic – most of whom are younger adults. The high number of reported cases among young Hispanics over the last several weeks remains a significant concern. As previously noted, some factors influencing this trend include:
- Targeted testing occurring in neighborhoods with lower access to care, some of which have larger Hispanic populations;
- Higher proportions of Hispanics working in essential jobs that make social distancing difficult;
- Significant household spread among large families; and
- Pre-existing disparities in other social and economic determinants of health, like poverty.
MCPH continues to expand outreach to Hispanic members of our community, including increased dissemination of the outreach toolkit in Spanish for community partners, setting up targeted outreach to Hispanic-owned and -serving businesses, and partnering with local organizations and media outlets to spread key prevention messages.
- About 1 in 20 reported cases were hospitalized due to their COVID-19 infection. While everyone is at risk for severe COVID-19 complications, reported cases who were older adults (≥ 60 years) were more likely to be hospitalized compared to younger individuals.
- Nearly half of cases have met CDC criteria to be released from isolation.
- During the past week, an average of 175 individuals with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infections were hospitalized at acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County. Overall this represents a fairly stable trend over the last 14 days. These data are based on daily census counts from acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County reporting to MCPH.
- During the past week, an average of 11.5 percent of individuals who were tested were positive for COVID-19. During the last 14 days there was a slight increase followed by a slight decline in percent positive. Overall this represents a fairly stable trend over the last 14 days. These data only include tests conducted by Atrium Health, Novant Health, and CVS Health when available. Reporting of negative results to MCPH is not required or covered by communicable disease reporting laws. MCPH will include results from other providers and laboratories as accurate, consistent and timely reporting mechanisms are established.
- One hundred-sixty-eight deaths due to COVID-19 occurred among reported cases.
- Almost all deaths were among older adults (≥ 60 years), 1 death occurred in adults ages 20 to 39 and 22 deaths were adults ages 40 to 59.
- All deaths, except two, occurred among adults with underlying chronic illnesses.
- More than half were non-Hispanic Whites. The disparity in COVID-19 deaths among non-Hispanic Whites is related to differences in race/ethnicity of residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities actively experiencing an outbreak.
- More than half of the deaths were connected to active outbreaks at long-term care (LTC) facilities.
- Based on publicly available mobility tracking data, social distancing slightly increased then slightly decreased in Mecklenburg County over the last 14 days. Overall, this represents a fairly stable trend over the last 14 days.
TUESDAY STORYLINES:
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper will announce his decision reopening plans for K-12 public schools Tuesday, a decisions that many parents have been waiting for because it will have ramifications on going back to work.
The announcement will be during Cooper’s COVID-19 update at 3 p.m. Channel 9 will be airing the news conference LIVE on air and online.
Atrium Health has passed out more than 250,000 masks for free to people across Charlotte. Their goal is 2 million. If you still need a mask, they will be handing out masks Tuesday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Atrium Health on East Boulevard.
If you’re in Concord, you can get a free mask from 4 to 6 p.m. at Caldwell Park on Georgia Street SW. The city’s goal is to hand out 20,000 masks.
NC parents, businesses await Cooper’s COVID-19 plans
North Carolina teachers and parents as well as gym and bar operators are anxious to know what Gov. Roy Cooper will say about the path ahead with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cooper scheduled a media briefing for Tuesday to discuss the state’s coronavirus case response.
He said previously that he would announce this week how the state’s K-12 public schools would operate when classes begin Aug. 17.
Cooper also must decide what to do with his executive order expiring Friday that extended closings of bars, health clubs and movie theaters shuttered since March.
State virus death trends have been unfavorable in recent weeks.
Cox Media Group
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