Upward trend of weekly COVID-19 cases continues even as daily number drops again
North Carolina reported more than 1,600 new coronavirus cases, the state Department of Health and Human Services said Monday.
The 1,643 new cases reported Monday are among the lowest reported in October, but Mondays tend to have the lowest reported cases each week.
October has seen the virus spread across North Carolina, causing state-level officials to ask local officials to take further steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The rolling 7-day average of new daily COVID-19 cases has been above 2,000 for much of the past two weeks, hitting 2,081 on Monday. That average has been above 2,000 every day since Oct. 16, except for one day, when it was 1,996 cases.
Health officials advise looking at trends over a period of time, rather than one day’s worth of data.
The data reported on the DHHS dashboard is preliminary and is regularly updated as new case information is reported to the state.
North Carolina also reported 13 more COVID-19 deaths on Monday, bringing the disease’s toll to 4,170 people. The deaths are not from a single day, with the state reporting them as they are verified.
Across the state, hospitals reported there are 1,193 patients with the virus with 92% of hospitals reporting. That is up from Sunday’s 1,148 patients, but similar to numbers that were reported last week.
Hospitals are reporting that there are 5,573 hospital beds available statewide, as well as 527 intensive care unit beds.
While DHHS has reported 261,742 confirmed positives since the pandemic began, it has also reported 231,611 people are “presumed recovered.” The health department presumes someone is recovered two weeks after the person tests positive if they are not hospitalized and four weeks after the positive test in someone who is hospitalized but does not die.
COVID-19 clusters
The state health department also released Monday a report that shows where clusters of cases are located — or types of gatherings where contact tracing has identified five more cases within two weeks that can plausibly be linked to each other.
The health department first released the cluster report last week and will update it every Monday afternoon.
The report says how many clusters are in certain categories, such as workplaces, food and beverage and retail, but does not identify specific locations.
The data only includes clusters reported to health departments on or after May 22. Clusters in meat and poultry processing facilities started being tracked in April.
In Monday’s report, there are 12 newly identified clusters originating religious gatherings, bringing the total to 88 in the state. So far, those clusters have accounted for 1,180 cases, including 140 new cases since Oct. 21. Religious gatherings also have been connected with 18 deaths, with five added since Oct. 21.
Monday, the Charlotte Observer reported Mecklenburg County health officials have identified 143 COVID-19 cases and five deaths associated with services at the United House of Prayer for All People on Beatties Ford Road.
DHHS officials also noted that clusters at colleges and universities have continued to grow steadily since Oct. 21, with seven new clusters accounting for 57 cases. That brings the total number of higher education clusters to 175, representing 1,959 cases. There have been no deaths associated with those clusters.
The report said no clusters were reported in October that are connected with agriculture, food processing or construction and contractor settings.
Wake students return to class
Monday, some Wake County students returned to schools. In-person classes started for the first time since March for some PreK-3 students and K-12 special education students. Kids were divided into three groups that will cycle through a rotation of one in-person week of classes followed by two weeks of virtual classes.
Everyone on campus will have their temperatures checked and will be required to wear masks most of the day. Social distancing will also be a part of students’ habits.
Wake County officials estimated that around 8,000 students were in classrooms across the county Monday, The News & Observer reported.
Daily in-person classes for these groups are set to begin on Nov. 16. Middle school students will start a similar rotation on Nov. 9, while fourth- and fifth-graders will do so on Nov. 16.
This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 12:58 PM.