NC is failing to hit benchmarks in battling the coronavirus’ spread, DHHS secretary says

As North Carolina continues to fail to hit benchmarks in battling the coronavirus’ spread, state officials want federal help to combat a testing supply shortage that’s delaying results.

Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, said the state has a three-month supply of protective equipment. But a shortage of reagents, the chemicals used to run lab tests, has become a problem, she said.

The shortage of chemicals means labs can take five to six days to report coronavirus test results, instead of the quicker turnaround time that health officials would like to see, Cohen said.

The state needs help from the federal government as well as from supply chains to close the gap, Cohen said at a Thursday afternoon press conference.

“The heath systems could be running more tests if they had more reagents,” Cohen said. “We can’t solve that problem from the state level. Federal help and action is needed to address these supply issues right now.

The concerns come as the number of patients hospitalized by COVID-19 in North Carolina grew to its second-highest single day total on Thursday. The 912 hospitalizations the state reported are 11 more than Wednesday’s total.

Thursday’s information comes from 93% of the state’s hospitals reporting information. That percentage was 86 on Wednesday. The single-day high in hospitalizations, 915, was set on June 23.

During the press conference, Cohen presented several charts to illustrate where North Carolina stands with cases, testing and hospitalizations, among other benchmarks.

“We are not in dire straits like some (states) around us,” Cohen said. “We have reason to be concerned, though. This isn’t where I’d hoped we’d be for July Fourth weekend.”

She said the number of people being seen with COVID-like symptoms in emergency departments is increasing, which is considered an early indicator of the virus’ spread. That’s also a sign that even more lab-confirmed cases could be coming.

“I’d like to see this metric level off,” Cohen said, ”but unfortunately it continues to move upward.”

The number of patients hospitalized by COVID-19 is one of four metrics Cohen and other state leaders are monitoring closely as decisions are made regarding relaxing social restrictions.

The other three are the number of new lab-confirmed cases, the percentage of positive tests and the number of people presenting at hospital emergency departments with COVID-like symptoms.

Cohen said the state is not seeing progress in any of the four metrics.

Last Friday, because the state wasn’t hitting the benchmarks needed to relax social restrictions, Gov. Roy Cooper kept the state in Phase 2 of his three-part reopening plan. That’s the same day a new mandatory law requiring the wearing of face coverings in public went into effect.

North Carolina coronavirus data

The state reported 1,629 new lab-confirmed cases on Thursday as the number of new cases remains high. The state hit a single-day high of 1,843 reported cases on Wednesday. The state has reported 1,009 or more new cases nine consecutive days.

The seven-day average in new cases per day has increased to an all-time high of 1,566.

Cohen said not only is the trajectory of new lab-confirmed cases increasing, but it’s “accelerating.” That indicates rapid viral spread, she said.

The state reported the percentage of tests coming up positive fell to 8% on Thursday. That percentage has fluctuated between 8-10% daily since May 26.

“While it has remained stable, we’d like to see this be closer to 5 percent,” Cohen said.

Cohen said she anticipates it will take two to three weeks before the trends would reflect any positive effect from the face-covering mandate.

This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 12:30 PM.