Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on April 16
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We’re keeping track of the most up-to-date news about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases top 5,600
North Carolina has at least 5,608 reported cases of the coronavirus as of Thursday morning, and 148 people have died, according to state and county health departments.
The number of cases reported by the state increased by 342 on Thursday, a day after dropping to 99 new cases.
The number of hospitalizations for coronavirus reached an all-time high on Thursday, with 452, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. That’s up from 431 the day before.
All but seven of the state’s 100 counties have reported at least one case of COVID-19.
Mecklenburg County has the most, with 1,098 cases.
In the Triangle, Wake County has 556 cases, Durham has 376, Orange has 172 and Johnston has 113.
Social distancing rank
North Carolina scores just average when it comes to social distancing, a new map shows. Researchers at the University of Maryland gave the Tar Heel State 50 of 100 possible points.
The study examined data, including the portion of people who are staying at home and trips that weren’t work-related.
North Carolina received scores that were similar to other southern states, a region where people may have to travel further distances to get necessities.
State needs federal help
Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday that North Carolina is not ready to relax restrictions based on President Donald Trump’s guidelines for reopening states.
The guidelines detail a three-phase process for reopening, but each phase is only possible when a state meets certain criteria, media outlets report.
But Gov. Cooper said North Carolina still needs help from the federal government before it can reopen.
“Yesterday I laid out what’s required for North Carolina’s path to gradual re-opening, and it’s good the White House has shared similar guidance, but we still need the federal government to help with testing and personal protective equipment.” Cooper told The News & Observer in an email.
COVID-19 House bill
The North Carolina House will consider a bill that includes waiving testing requirements, K-3 class size reductions and the school calendar among other things as schools are closed during the pandemic.
The House Select COVID-19 Committee’s education subcommittee will vote next week on the bill, which will be proposed with the full General Assembly returns April 28.
The bill doesn’t yet details about school calendar flexibility, but it should once the committee votes, The New & Observer reports.
Some hospitals ready for peak
Two of the Triangle’s largest hospitals, UNC Hospitals and UNC Rex Healthcare, say they don’t think the coronavirus outbreak has peaked yet in North Carolina, but that they’re ready for when it does.
It’s unclear when the peak will be.
“There’s so many different models out there that have peaks at different times in the next few weeks,” Ernie Bovio, president of UNC Rex, said. “We’re prepared for it but not sure when it’s going to be here.”
The hospitals say they have increased their capacities, “redeployed staff” and stockpiled equipment.
Voting machines lawsuit
The North Carolina NAACP filed a lawsuit against the state Board of Elections and election boards in Mecklenburg County and elsewhere saying new voting machines with touch screens could expose voters to COVID-19.
The suit also claims the machines are unreliable and threaten the integrity and security of the state’s elections.
Laura Brewer, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Josh Stein, told The Charlotte Observer that the Justice Department is reviewing the filing.
Aid for schools
Public schools in North Carolina could get at least $389 million from the federal government to help with challenges stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, such as continuing to feed and educate students while schools are closed at least through May 15.
The $2 trillion federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress includes aid to K-12 schools to curb impacts of the virus.
On Thursday, education leaders said the state welcomes the money but will likely need more.
Testing at prison
Every inmate at Neuse Correctional Institution, a state prison in eastern North Carolina, will be tested for the coronavirus, prison officials said Thursday.
Testing will also be offered to staff.
At least 29 inmates at the facility have tested positive for COVID-19, and the case count jumped by more than half between Tuesday and Wednesday.
The number of cases reported at the facility make up 60 percent of all cases reported at state prisons.
UNCC memorial changes
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte announced a memorial commemorating the one-year anniversary of a deadly shooting on its campus will move online as coronavrius spreads. Two students died, and four more were injured in 2019 shooting.
The program is set for 5:10 p.m. on April 30.
Wake County extends order
Wake County, home to Raleigh, announced it was extending its stay-at-home order until April 30, with modifications for businesses and churches. The original order was set to end Thursday.
Greg Ford, chair of the Board of Commissioners, said there has been progress on “flattening the curve of new coronavirus cases, but it hasn’t reached its peak caseload yet,” The News & Observer reported.
The announcement about the order came after the county reported its first coronavirus-related death on Wednesday. It was the last of the state’s urban counties to a see a fatality from the disease.
Mecklenburg County has 19 reported deaths. Guilford County has 10, Forsyth County has five, Durham County has two and New Hanover County has one.
Rural hospitals
North Carolina’s rural hospitals could lose more than $145 million each month as the coronavirus spreads, The News & Observer reported. The facilities bought equipment to prepare for the disease and have canceled elective procedures that bring in revenue.
Roxie Wells of Cape Fear Valley Hoke Hospital on Wednesday told lawmakers patients could be transferred from larger medical centers to rural hospitals for elective procedures and some coronavirus-related care. She said she is concerned rural facilities will close, becoming an economic blow to their communities.
Easing restrictions
Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday said North Carolina needs more testing, tracing and trends before the state eases restrictions on businesses and stay-at-home orders.
Coronavirus tests and antibody tests need to be widely available, Cooper said, and officials must trace, or track, new cases of the virus. As for trends, he said, the number of hospitalizations and deaths must decrease.
The governor said measures in place to flatten the curve, such as social distancing, are working, though they are not sustainable.
Cooper said the reopening of the state will need to be slow.
Counties want to make decisions
The leaders of two North Carolina counties, Lincoln and Gaston, have asked the governor to leave future decisions regarding the reopening of restaurants and bars up to them.
A statewide stay-at-home order is in effect until April 29, but it could be extended. Cooper has said a “wholesale lifting” would be “catastrophic” for North Carolina.
County leaders, however, said in a letter to Cooper that they should be the ones to make those decisions.
“I firmly believe that Gaston County, along with each of the other 99 counties, can best decide on how to address the risk in each of our home territories,” Tracy L. Philbeck, chair of the Gaston County Board of Commissioners, wrote in the letter.
Field hospital not needed
Two Charlotte-area hospital systems have, for now, dropped their request for a 600-bed field hospital that would’ve been used to help treat coronavirus patients.
Novant Health and Atrium Health wrote in a letter to Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio Wednesday that they’ve both increased capacity in their own facilities and believe they have the ability to meet future needs.
“As a result of our combined efforts, we believe we are now in a position to meet the 600 medical beds needed that were previously requested in a field hospital, assuming the effects of social distancing trends continue the current trajectory,” hospital leaders said in the letter.
UNC Health workers test positive
Twelve employees at UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill have tested positive for coronavirus, The News & Observer reported.
UNC Health spokesman Alan Wolf said most of the employees appear to have contracted the virus outside of the medical center. Fewer than half of them work with patients, he said.
The employees are quarantining at home.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 7:04 AM.
