Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on April 25
We’re keeping track of the most up-to-date news about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Deaths top 300
North Carolina has at least 8,733 reported cases of the coronavirus as of Saturday morning, and 304 people have died, according to data collected by The News & Observer from state and county health departments.
N.C. Department of Health and Human Services tally included an additional 571 cases on Friday, the state’s highest daily case count. The total has jumped by more than 1,000 in the past two days.
But state officials say more people could have the coronavirus because not every resident has been tested for the disease.
Case numbers are now doubling about every 14 days, longer than the 13-day rate reported Thursday. The doubling rate is an indication COVID-19 is slowing its spread, The News & Observer reported.
At least 456 North Carolinians were hospitalized with the virus as of Saturday morning, compared to 477 on Friday, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Mecklenburg County has the highest numbers in the state, with 1,450 reported cases and 41 deaths.
Wake County has 645 cases and 13 deaths and Durham County has 541 cases and 10 deaths.
Schools to stay closed
Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday announced North Carolina public schools will remain closed for the rest of the school year. The decision extends an order that originally kept them closed until May 15, The News & Observer reported.
Schools have been closed since March 14.
“Cooper’s announcement means that North Carolina’s 1.5 million public school students will finish the school year taking classes virtually,” The N&O reported.
The announcement comes as public schools in North Carolina are changing how they grade students since coronavirus has stopped in-person instruction. The State Board of Education on Thursday approved a new policy that won’t allow students in grades K-11 to get a failing grade for the spring semester.
Students should be promoted to the next grade unless plans to retain them were “well underway” on March 13.
A state bill could change also the start date for some students, The News & Observer reported. If passed, the proposal would move the first day of the traditional calendar to mid-August.
Stay-at-home orders extended
Some Triangle counties announced Friday they will extend their stay-at-home orders.
Durham County lifted some restrictions but will keep its order in place through May 15, the N&O reported. Orange County extended its order until May 8, but officials in Wake County haven’t confirmed their plans.
Cooper announced Thursday afternoon he is extending the statewide stay-at-home order through May 8 — a decision some county leaders have criticized as a “one size fits all approach.”
Spring sports canceled
The N.C. High School Athletic Association and N.C. Independent Schools are canceling all high school athletics for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year after Cooper announced schools will not reopen.
“The changes also means the NCHSAA state basketball championships, which were postponed last month, will not be played,” The N&O reported.
The NCHSAA Board of Directors is slated to decide next week how the playoffs will be finalized — whether it be by declaring Eastern and Western Regional champions or co-state champions.
Hospitals resume some services
Atrium Health in Charlotte will begin expanding health-care services — including non-emergency surgeries and procedures — starting the week of April 27.
Novant Health has said it will do the same starting May 4, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Procedures will be subject to “extensive safety measures,” such as testing for COVID-19, separating coronavirus patients from non-coronavirus patients and using a COVID-19 virtual hospital.
Cooper’s plan for federal aid
Cooper announced plans Friday for how to spend the $1.4 billion in federal relief North Carolina is slated to receive from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
Under the current proposal:
- $313 million would go to public health and safety
- $740.4 million would go to education and state government operations
- $375 million would be set aside for small business and local government assistance.
Drive-up church services
Mecklenburg County loosened its restrictions on religious services Friday, allowing churches to host drive-up or drive-through services starting this weekend.
Communion, however, is still barred, the Charlotte Observer reported.
“We have gotten a tremendous amount of cooperation from our faith leaders around not holding drive-up church services but we feel now that the data and the flattening the curve allows us to allow (that),” Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio said.
Second prison death
Neuse Correctional Institution reported its first coronavirus-related death on Friday.
The man was in his late 70s and had underlying health conditions, state officials said. He’s the second inmate at a state prison to die, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Neuse is home to one of the state’s largest COVID-19 outbreaks, where at least 460 prisoners have tested positive.
State prisons commissioner Todd Ishee said in a statement issued Friday that officials were doing their “best to try and flatten the curve of COVID-19 in Prisons.”
A previous report by the Charlotte Observer found only about 2% of inmates at state prison facilities have been tested for the coronavirus and more than a third of those facilities haven’t tested a single inmate
Nursing home outbreaks
Eight people who died from coronavirus in Mecklenburg County were nursing home residents, according to data released Friday.
There were 42 nursing homes in North Carolina with ongoing outbreaks as of Friday morning, the state health department said. More than one-third of the state’s coronavirus-related deaths have been linked to nursing homes, though officials haven’t always shared which facilities have cases of the disease.
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 7:41 AM.
