Coronavirus cases pass 15,000 in North Carolina, as testing increases. Deaths top 550.
North Carolina has now reported more than 15,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, as officials ramp up testing — which Gov. Roy Cooper has highlighted as a key part of his reopening plan.
On Monday, the state reported 281 more cases, for a total of 15,045. The death count rose from 547 to 550, and the number of people hospitalized rose from 442 to 464.
That’s down from the high of 551 people who were reported hospitalized on April 29.
The News & Observer is also keeping a separate tally of coronavirus statistics, based on reporting directly from individual counties, which tends to be slightly ahead of the state numbers. As of Monday evening that showed 15,273 cases, 575 deaths.
That is more than three times the number of people killed by the flu in North Carolina this flu season. According to DHHS, the flu had caused 185 deaths through May 2.
The 15,054 positive cases reported by DHHS has come from a total of 195,865 completed tests since early March.
The state has lagged behind most of the U.S. in testing, The News & Observer reported last week. Out of 55 states and territories, North Carolina ranked 43rd in one key measure — with just under 16 tests completed for every 1,000 people in the state.
As of Sunday, however, North Carolina increased its testing rate to just under 18 per 1,000 people and had risen in the ranks to 40th.
On Friday evening, Cooper launched Phase One of his three-phase plan to loosen restrictions, although he said that when the state moves into phases Two and Three will depend on COVID-19 health trends. One benchmark includes a goal of 5,000 to 7,000 new tests per day.
In the last two weeks of April, according to a News & Observer analysis of state data, the state was reporting an average of around 3,932 new tests per day.
But in the first 11 days of May, the state averaged around 5,639 new tests per day.
Getting to 15,000 cases
The growing number of coronavirus cases in North Carolina appears to be more a reflection of increased testing, rather than a new spike in the disease.
Although the number of cases is still increasing, the percentage of tests resulting in positive cases is decreasing. In much of mid- and late-April, the state’s numbers show that around 8% to 8.5% of tests were resulting in positive cases. That has dropped to around 7.7% over the past few days.
The first case of coronavirus in North Carolina was identified on March 3. It took six weeks for the state to hit 5,000 confirmed cases, on April 14. But adding the next 5,000 cases took just over two weeks more, as North Carolina passed 10,000 cases on April 29.
Now, just under two weeks after that, North Carolina has added yet another 5,000 cases, reaching 15,000.
The 5,000 to 7,000 tests per day figure is just one benchmark Cooper listed as being important for determining the state’s progress. The News & Observer is tracking all seven benchmarks.
Under Phase One, some businesses that had been defined as non-essential reopened or have plans to do so, and some businesses that had curtailed their hours are staying open longer.
The Wendell General Store remained open during the shutdown because it offers groceries. Owner Regina Harmon said the store is now back to normal hours, and had a strong weekend.
Harmon, who opened the store on North Main Street six year ago, said customers came out for farm-fresh grocery items, homemade jellies, Mother’s Day gifts, and “just to be out and about. They were happy to be out in the public and to be around people and get their lives back.”
Hospitals reassessing triage tents
Some hospitals have begun dismantling the triage tents they set up in their parking lots in anticipation of high numbers of COVID-19 patients needing medical help, The News & Observer reported. Others are leaving them in place awhile longer in case illness spikes as businesses reopen and people go back to stores, offices and other workplaces.
WakeMed erected the tents outside its three hospital emergency departments in late March. While the tents weren’t needed as much as expected, Dr. Doug Trocinski, the medical director for the emergency department at WakeMed’s Raleigh campus, said having the extra space allowed the hospital to reconfigure on the inside.
“It gave us the opportunity over the last six or eight weeks to really get all our emergency departments set up to where essentially we have the same ability to separate folks with COVID-like symptoms and those without within our walls,” Trocinski said. “Which is obviously much better for everybody.”
UNC Health has decided to leave triage tents up outside Rex Hospital in Raleigh and UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill, said spokesman Alan Wolf.
“Due to the Phase One reopening, we’ve elected to wait a bit longer to see whether there’s an uptick in positive patients,” Wolf wrote in an email. “We will reassess at the end of May.”
Duke Regional Hospital in Durham will take down its triage tent on Friday, according to Duke Health spokeswoman Sarah Avery. The tent at Duke Raleigh Hospital is used only for drive-thru testing by appointment and will remain up, Avery said.
Duke University Hospital’s drive-thru testing tent will remain up as well, Avery said, but the emergency department tent could be dismantled within the next two weeks if the volume of cases remains stable.
State estimates number of patients recovered
State officials think more than 9,000 people in North Carolina have recovered from the coronavirus, The News & Observer reported.
In an online news conference, Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said Monday an estimate of recoveries would now be included in the data reports provided by DHHS on its website at covid19.ncdhhs.gov.
The first set of data was posted Monday, showing an estimated 9,115 patients are “presumed to be recovered” from COVID-19.
The North Carolina General Assembly required DHHS to provide recovery rates as part of the legislation it passed at the beginning of this month in response to the pandemic.
“This is the first step today of putting the numbers out related to recovery,” Cohen said. “This was our first step in trying to give folks our best estimate here based on what we know about the virus and about recovery times in various populations.”
Cohen said the state is estimating the median recovery time for those not hospitalized as 14 days, and 28 days for those who required hospitalization. She said the time intervals were chosen based on World Health Organization’s guidance and in consultation with the CDC and other state health departments.
Cohen stressed that the number of people “presumed to be recovered” is not an exact total. The estimate will be
updated each Monday by 4 p.m.
Election officials say they need more money
With the 2020 general election six months away, North Carolina’s state and county election agencies are looking for help covering the increased costs of keeping the voting process safe, fair and secure.
Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the N.C. State Board of Elections, has sent three letters to the N.C. General Assembly asking for changes to state voting laws and roughly $2 million to match federal funds from the CARES Act.
Brinson Bell said the $11 million in federal money is needed to help counties pay for what elections officials expect will be a dramatic increase in absentee-by-mail voting and equipment to run in-person voting safely, The News & Observer reported.
Brinson Bell said the state plans to purchase masks for every poll worker and voter, enough pens that each voter gets their own, plastic shields for check-in stations and sanitizing kits for every polling place.
“We are a logistics operation. We plan, we prepare for the worst and hope for the best in everything that we do,” she said, “and that’s what we’re doing this go-round as well.”
State lawmakers are set to return to Raleigh on May 18.
Staff writers Chip Alexander, Lucille Sherman and Richard Stradling contributed to this report, along with The Charlotte Observer’s Ames Alexander and Gavin Off.
This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 10:50 AM.
