Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Oct. 4
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We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases top 217,000
At least 217,496 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 3,634 have died, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday reported 610 new COVID-19 cases, a drop from 2,202 the day before and the lowest single-day total since mid-August.
But the number of tests conducted Saturday also dropped off significantly, with 20,964 tests completed, compared to Friday’s more than 35,000.
Five deaths were added to the total Sunday.
About 6.6% of tests were reported positive on Sunday. That’s above health officials’ goal of 5% or lower.
At least 907 people in North Carolina were reported hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday, down from 921 the day before. That number has been decreasing since Sept. 29, when 946 people were hospitalized.
Positive test shuts down Wake Forest fire station
A fire station in Wake Forest is temporarily closed after a firefighter working there tested positive for COVID-19, the town announced Saturday.
Fire Station #2 is being cleaned and sanitized and everyone working there has been sent home to self-isolate, according to the town. The fire department is also contact tracing to determine who else may have been exposed to the virus.
The case will not disrupt fire services in the town, officials say.
Wake Forest is about 17 miles from Raleigh.
In August, nearby Clayton Fire Department also saw a COVID-19 outbreak. Seventeen firefighters tested positive, and the outbreak led to two deaths.
Cunningham tests negative after Tillis tests positive
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham has tested negative for the coronavirus after incumbent U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, tested positive, his campaign said Saturday.
Cunningham’s campaign said he will be tested again Monday.
Tillis announced Friday night that he tested positive for COVID-19 and will self-quarantine for two weeks. He said Saturday night he had mild symptoms but no fever. None of his campaign staff or his wife have tested positive for the coronavirus.
In the days before receiving the positive result, Tillis debated Cunningham, attended meet and greets and round tables in North Carolina and met with Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett and voted on the Senate floor in Washington, D.C.
His positive test came after news broke that President Donald Trump has COVID-19.
The president’s physician on Saturday said Trump was doing “very well.” But Dr. Sean Conley declined to answer several questions about his health and later said he misspoke about the timeline of events, creating confusion about the timing of Trump’s positive test and visit to Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows described a more serious situation than Conley, creating further confusion about the president’s health.
Trump visited Charlotte a week before receiving the positive test. Questions remain about whether he had already been exposed to the virus when he made the Sept. 24 trip to a warehouse near Charlotte Douglas International Airport, where he greeted an audience of mostly health care workers.
Mecklenburg County health officials have not been contacted by the White House with any concerns about the visit, Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said in a statement Friday.
“I wouldn’t expect that there’s any increased risk for the Charlotte event last week,” Dr. Katie Passaretti said in an Atrium Health video. “…President Trump, who’s very recently showing signs of infection, was unlikely to have been contagious over a week ago when he was in Charlotte.”
Holy Angels, the non-profit charity based in Belmont, N.C., temporarily closed its cafe and two other businesses Friday as a precaution after the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, visited Thursday. She and her husband, Jared Kushner, tested negative.
Charlotte nightclub shut down for COVID-19 violations
El Centenario Night Club in University City had its alcohol permits suspended late Saturday for repeatedly violating the state’s coronavirus-related restrictions.
Social media posts showed large crowds and a lack of social distancing, according to North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission documents.
The private club has been cited several times since May. ABC commission documents said it continued to allow crowds inside to exceed 300 people with no social distancing or sanitization practices. Customers were not wearing masks. The club also violated the state’s 11 p.m. alcohol sales curfew.
James Kevin Galyan, the club’s owner, told ALE agents he needed to reopen to pay his bills.
Bars had been prohibited from opening since March, but on Friday were allowed to reopen under Phase 3 with outdoor seating only and at 30% capacity or 100 people, whichever is less.
But some bars in the state didn’t open over the weekend, either to get their plans in place or because the restrictions make doing so still impossible.
“It’s a very small step in the right direction,” Zack Medford, who owns several bars in downtown Raleigh, told The News & Observer. “Unfortunately the way things stand it’s not viable for us right now. It’s not as simple as unlocking the doors and saying come on out.”
Judge blocks elections settlement
A federal judge on Saturday placed a temporary restraining order on the N.C. Board of Elections settlement that came out of Wake County Superior Court on Friday and changed state election laws.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins on Friday signed off on a settlement that changes how absentee ballots are handled during the 2020 election. The settlement is a compromise between the State Board of Elections and a political group representing retirees that sued over North Carolina’s rules for mail-in voting last month, The News & Observer reported.
Under the settlement, the elections board will accept mail-in ballots up to nine days after the general election as long as they are postmarked by 5 p.m. Nov. 3. Voters who are missing a witness signature or address on the ballot will be allowed to fix it without filing a new one.
Collins called the agreement “fair and reasonable and not illegal or a product of collusion,” The N&O reports.
The restraining order issued Saturday in place until Oct. 16. The case will be transferred to U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen in the Middle District of North Carolina.
Significantly more people than usual are expected to vote by mail this year due to the pandemic. As of Saturday, more than 1.1 million people had requested absentee ballots and more than 340,000 had been cast.
This story was originally published October 4, 2020 at 9:59 AM.
