NC coronavirus cases, hospitalizations go up Monday as stay-at-home order starts
Cases of coronavirus topped 1,300 in North Carolina on Monday, as residents prepared for a statewide stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Roy Cooper.
For counties such as Wake, Durham and Mecklenburg, which are already under stay-at-home orders, Monday’s statewide order will change little. Businesses deemed essential will remain open, and people can still go out to get food and groceries, receive health care and be outside as long as they maintain at least 6 feet of social distancing.
Meanwhile, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported 1,307 cases and 137 hospitalizations as of Monday, adding that there have been 20,864 completed coronavirus tests.
Newly reported cases include two more employees of the N.C. State Treasurer’s office who tested positive for COVID-19, a week after the department’s spokesperson confirmed that Dale Folwell, the state treasurer, is sick with the virus.
Also on Monday, the Department of Revenue closed its Raleigh headquarters after learning an employee there tested positive for COVID-19.
Department officials said a large number of their employees were already working remotely and that the building will undergo a thorough cleaning before reopening to on-site employees.
DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said in a Monday afternoon briefing that the state expects there to be a confirmed case in every county in the coming days, or at least by the end of the week.
In the same briefing, Cohen said North Carolina has just received its third stockpile of much-needed supplies — including N95 masks, gloves, face shields and gowns — from the Strategic National Stockpile.
Seven North Carolina residents have died
Wake County reported 26 new cases of COVID-19, as of 6 p.m. Monday. That brings the county’s total to 180.
Durham County reported 11 new cases, bringing the county’s total to 118. On Monday night, officials reported multiple cases have been linked to a March 22 event at Millennium Hotel Durham. People who attended the event hosted by Faith Assembly and who have a fever, cough, or shortness of breath, should call the Durham County Department of Public Health at 919-635-8150.
So far, seven North Carolina residents have died from complications from COVID-19, while two people from Virginia have died while traveling through North Carolina.
The latest death, confirmed by Onslow County on Monday, was a patient in their 70s with underlying medical conditions who died March 22 and was confirmed on March 30 as having coronavirus,
There was also a report Monday of a death in Carteret County — a Virginia resident in their 80s who had several underlying medical conditions, according to the county health department.
Another Virginia resident contracted the virus at a North Carolina rehabilitation center and died at a Virginia hospital March 27.
Buncombe County officials reported that county’s first death from COVID-19 on Sunday. Mecklenburg County officials also reported Sunday that a patient had died.
The News & Observer is keeping a real-time count of coronavirus cases announced by counties updated throughout the day. The N&O reports the number of cases at 1,347. At least one case of coronavirus has been reported in 78 of the state’s 100 counties.
Changes at North Carolina colleges
Students applying to colleges in the UNC System will face new admissions requirements starting with the Fall 2020 semester, because SAT and ACT tests this spring were canceled or postponed over coronavirus concerns.
Under the new guidelines, each individual university can now choose to admit students with a minimum 2.5 weighted high school GPA or a combined SAT score of 1010 or an ACT score of 19. Though admissions offices can make decisions based on GPA alone, students are still required to submit a standardized test score with their application, unless they qualify for an exemption.
Those changes were originally proposed to go into effect in 2021, but approved on Monday in a special Board of Governors phone meeting. The guidelines are effective for the next three years across the system.
In other news, the state also announced that unemployment payments will start to go out this week to thousands of North Carolinians who filed unemployment claims related to COVID-19.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been corrected to say that the three members of the North Carolina State Treasurer’s office who have tested positive for COVID-19 include Treasurer Dale Folwell. (Corrected 9:25 p.m. on March 30.)
This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 11:34 AM.
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