As local mayors and other elected leaders debate whether to extend Wake County’s stay-at-home order, new information shows how many confirmed cases of coronavirus are in each city and town.

As of Friday, there were 661 confirmed cases of COVID-19 throughout Wake County, with 368 of those in Raleigh, according to a Wake County memo sent to city and town managers and mayors Monday morning. (Wake County had more than 750 cases as of Monday afternoon, mostly due to more testing at the NC Correctional Institute for Women.)

The memo also shows that Wake County health and government staff recommend letting the county’s stay-at-home order expire on Thursday and having that the county then follow the state’s order instead. That change, if local elected leaders approve it, would allow gatherings up to 10 people and let stores be open as long as they restrict capacity to 20%.

“Once everyone has an opportunity to consider the proposal and provide feedback, the proposal will be edited and conveyed into our next proclamation,” said Wake County Commissioner Chair Greg Ford, who said he plans to share the county’s next steps in an official announcement Wednesday morning.

Both orders — Wake County and the state’s — require people to remain home except for essential activities.

The memo also recommends that the county follow the state’s reopening plan, which Gov. Roy Cooper outlined last week in a series of stages as long as certain public health benchmarks are met.

Wake County may re-impose new or reinstate previously lifted restrictions if certain goals aren’t met, according to the memo.

In theory, some parts of the county may have different stay-at-home orders depending on what local leaders decide. A mayor can decide which order to follow within their jurisdiction, and Ford can decide for the unincorporated parts of town.

So far, all of the county’s municipalities have signed on to the same agreement.

But, some towns, including Apex, Cary and Holly Springs, have expressed interest in following the state’s guidelines instead of the stricter local order. Others, including Raleigh, are in favor of extending the local stay-at-home order until May 8 to match the state’s.

Durham County decided last week to extend its stay-at-home order until May 15, while Orange County extended its order until May 8.

The local mayors are virtually meeting Monday evening to discuss the new data

Local cases

The News & Observer requested the number of confirmed cases per Wake County ZIP code last month after other counties, including Mecklenburg County, provided that data. While other demographic information was released, the requested data by ZIP code was not provided. Durham County released its current cases by ZIP code over the weekend.

Several mayors also requested a breakdown of confirmed cases within their jurisdictions. Monday’s memo listed those cases, ranging from three confirmed cases in Rolesville to 368 in Raleigh. Cary had the second most cases, at 75.

A majority of the reported cases in Knightdale are at the Wellington Rehab and Healthcare facility. According to data provided by the state Monday, there have been 49 confirmed cases and six deaths at the facility. A smaller portion of Raleigh’s cases include cases at Sunnybrook Rehabilitation Center, which as of Monday has 26 confirmed cases and one death.

But local officials have stressed that the official counts do not represent the true caseload.

“We do recognize that due to the lack of widespread testing, the positive case counts in Wake County do not reflect the total number of positive cases in the county,” said Darshan Patel, Wake County Emergency Management team leader, in an email to The N&O last week.

This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 5:26 PM.

Anna Roman

The News & Observer

919-829-4807

Anna Roman is a service journalism reporter for the News & Observer. She has previously covered city government, crime and business for newspapers across North Carolina and received many North Carolina Press Association awards, including first place for investigative reporting.