North Carolina coronavirus cases top 4,500 as new retail restrictions begin Monday
With Gov. Roy Cooper’s new shopping restrictions set to take effect Monday, North Carolina’s confirmed coronavirus cases grew Sunday while hospitalizations dropped slightly.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services had recorded 4,520 cases with 81 deaths as of Sunday morning. Total cases increased 208 from Saturday’s update, with one newly reported death.
It was not clear Sunday evening if those numbers yet reflected two growing outbreaks at Triangle area nursing homes, with two homes in Wake and Chatham County reporting nearly 100 new cases Sunday.
The number of people across the state who are hospitalized due to COVID-19 dropped to 331, down 31 from Saturday, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ website. The state said 91 of the state’s 100 counties had positive tests as of Sunday, it showed.
The spread of the virus comes one day before Cooper’s latest executive order limiting access to groceries and other stores. The order, set to begin at 5 p.m. Monday, allows stores to be occupied by only 20% of their code capacity, or by five people per 1,000 square feet.
Stores must mark six feet of social distancing in checkout lines or outside of stores where people will be waiting to enter. The order also says stores should perform “frequent environmental cleaning and routine disinfecting.”
Many grocery stores around the state had already started implementing changes.
Case total approaching 4,600
The News & Observer is keeping a separate COVID-19 tally based on reports from the state and county health departments, which tends to be higher because the state takes longer to confirm cases. As of Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m, there were 4,563 cases and 88 deaths.
The virus had reached 92 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, according to that data.
First COVID-19 inmate death at Butner prison
Charles Richard Rootes, an 81-year-old man serving a 99-year sentence, died from COVID-19 complications on Saturday, according to federal officials.
Rootes had a long-term, pre-existing medical condition and was placed on a ventilator March 27 after going into respiratory failure, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons.
He had been convicted of kidnapping, motor vehicle theft and rape in federal court in Tennessee in 2019.
More than 80 people, including 22 employees, have tested positive for the coronavirus at the Butner prison complex in Granville County.
Nursing home outbreaks grow
Chatham County health officials announced Sunday the Laurels at Chatham nursing home has 57 cases of coronavirus among its residents and staff, up from six at the Pittsboro facility Friday. When the virus began infecting people there last week, county and UNC Health staff joined the facility’s staff to conduct widespread testing.
Wake County announced Sunday evening there are now 47 cases at Wellington Rehabilitation and Healthcare. There were four Thursday.
Of the 47 positive cases, 20 are patients and 27 are staff members. Only two patients have symptoms, and they are being treated in the hospital. All positive patients are being isolated in one wing of the building.
Long-term care settings continue to be hot spots for the virus’ spread.
DHHS reported 42 outbreaks in congregate living facilities, including 28 nursing homes in 21 counties, in its Sunday morning COVID-19 update.
The number of cases in those facilities are not fully reflected in the state’s county totals because prison workers and nursing-home patients who test positive, for example, are recorded as being in the county where they live or come from, respectively, local officials have said.
Cases increase in Wake, Mecklenburg
The state’s most populous counties continued to show more cases on Sunday.
Mecklenburg County saw its cases increase to 954, the most of any county in the state, according to state officials.
State officials listed Wake County’s total number of cases at 470. The county said the average age for people who have tested positive is 48.
Durham County announced 13 new positive cases Sunday. It now has 290 cases.
Johnston County reported 101 total confirmed cases. The age group with the most positive cases in the county is 65-pus, with 37 cases.
The most-infected age group, according to data released by the state, are people ages 25 to 49. They account for 39% of the state’s positive tests. That group is followed by people ages 50 to 64, at 29% of positive tests.
The state reported 62,139 completed tests.
This story was originally published April 12, 2020 at 11:40 AM.