Coronavirus cases take biggest jump, as crowds in NC cities protest police killing
North Carolina added more than 1,100 coronavirus cases to its total Saturday, the largest single-day increase since the pandemic first struck the state.
The jump to more than 27,000 cases came as the state entered its second week under Phase Two of Gov. Roy Cooper’s reopening plan, with some defying the remaining restrictions on businesses and others planning to attend a second week of racing at Ace Speedway in Alamance County Saturday.
News of the latest increase also arrived as protesters marched in downtown Durham and began to gather in downtown Raleigh in a show of support for George Floyd, the black man who died in Minneapolis this week after an officer knelt on his neck.
During demonstrations Friday night in Charlotte, people slashed a police car’s tires, smashed windows at a police substation, broke into a grocery store and pelted officers with water bottles, The Charlotte Observer reported.
In Durham on Saturday afternoon, more than 200 people gathered peacefully, marching to the county courthouse and then the police station, where demonstrators blocked Main Street in front of the building. At each stop protesters blocked the street and formed a circle around people who would chant, sing and share experiences.
Most of the participants wore masks.
Jump in COVID-19 cases
The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 27,673 confirmed cases of COVID-19 Saturday, up 1,185 from Friday’s total. The biggest single-day jump had been 1,107 on May 23.
The state has often warned that its case total could be much higher because not all people with coronavirus have been tested. Testing continues to surge across the state, which DHHS has noted could account for the higher caseload.
Of those infected patients, 638 were hospitalized statewide, a drop from 680 on Friday. Inpatient and intensive-care-unit beds remain available across North Carolina. The state’s death toll from COVID-19 hit 877 Saturday, rising by 18 since Friday.
As of Saturday, 404,157 people had been tested for COVID-19. An increased 10% of those tests came back positive on Friday, the most recent day of data.
The News & Observer is keeping a separate count based on reports from DHHS and county health departments, which tends to be higher because the state’s numbers are updated once a day. On Saturday, that tally stood at 27,793 cases and 929 deaths.
Protest planned in Raleigh
Shortly before noon, about a dozen people had assembled at the Wake County courthouse, some holding signs that read, “I can’t breathe.” Plans for a mass protest were circulating Saturday asking peaceful demonstrators to wear masks and meet at the courthouse at 5 p.m.
Raleigh’s event has been billed as a peaceful protest demanding justice for Floyd, along with “countless lives cut short” by both Raleigh and Durham police.
Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead Friday said he was “embarrassed” and “outraged” by police actions in Minneapolis while Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown called them “disheartening.”
This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 2:26 PM.