Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Dec. 12
We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
COVID patients hit record high
At least 429,776 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 5,796 have died, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Saturday reported 6,153 new COVID-19 cases, down from 7,540 cases the day before. Friday’s count was the highest ever reported in the state, surpassing the previous single-day record of 6,495 cases set on Wednesday.
Forty-four additional coronavirus-related deaths were reported Saturday.
At least 2,577 people in North Carolina were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Saturday, marking the tenth consecutive day of record patient counts.
About 11.7% of tests were reported positive as of Saturday, up from 10.4% on Wednesday, the latest previous day for which data are available. That’s above the 5% target set by health officials.
Health director urges guests at NC bar to get tested
Mecklenburg County Health Director Gibbie Harris said anyone who went to QC Social Lounge in uptown Charlotte on Thursday should wait five to seven days to get tested and isolate at home after videos showed a crowded dance floor and people not wearing masks.
“We’ve already talked to CMPD about checking into that,” Harris said Friday at a news conference. A second event at the bar was reportedly planned for Friday.
Footage posted online show “more than 100 people shoulder-to-shoulder buying drinks, dancing and smiling,” The Charlotte Observer reported. The condemnation on social media was swift, with some calling the behavior “insulting” and “offensive.”
“I’d be very surprised ... if there was not COVID in that space last night,” Harris said. “They took the risk of going to that facility. The problem is it’s not just a risk to them, it’s a risk to others in the community when they expose themselves like that.”
Charlotte hospitals could exceed capacity, doctors say
Top doctors at Atrium Health and Novant Health in Mecklenburg County are urging residents to comply with safety precautions as hospitals near capacity to treat COVID-19 patients.
Though they now have enough capacity to continue caring for those patients over the next month, doctors say the short-term outlook depends on whether people follow health guidelines, The Observer reported.
“We all have the ability to act so we can hopefully dampen the curve,” Atrium Health’s Dr. Lewis McCurdy, an infectious disease specialist, said during a news conference with Mecklenburg County officials.
The warnings come as researchers at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC Chapel Hill released a report projecting local hospitals could become overwhelmed within the next four to five weeks if the current trend continues.
Courts closed for 30 days as cases climb
All non-essential activity in North Carolina’s courts came to a halt Friday by order of N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley.
Beasley closed the courts for 30 days, citing the rising number of coronavirus cases, The News & Observer reported. There are 291 confirmed COVID-19 cases among judicial employees in North Carolina — including 40 in the past week, Beasley said.
“Scaling back operations for the next 30 days will give local court officials an opportunity to do much needed planning to ensure that our courts are in the best possible position to protect the health and safety of employees and the public in 2021,” Beasley wrote.
Anti-mask protest planned for NC mall never happened
People protesting North Carolina’s statewide mask mandate — put in place to slow the spread of the surging coronavirus — said they planned to gather Friday night at one of the state’s biggest malls. But police said the protest never materialized.
The “ ‘Trash the Mask’ holiday dinner & shopping” event was set for Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Concord Mills mall, and was to be organized by Amy Moore Benjamin and Trump Event Images, according to a Facebook page created by Benjamin and Steve Brock. The city of Concord had put out a statement mid-morning saying it was aware of the event and working with police and mall owner Simon to determine appropriate action.
But at 9:30 p.m. Friday, police told The Observer that nothing ended up happening at the mall, as far as they were aware.
“No evidence anything out of the ordinary happened,” Concord Police Chief Gary Gacek told The Observer in an email. “We had eyes in the mall and the food court, and nothing happened.”
Cabarrus County, home to the mall, is facing critical community spread of the coronavirus.
“To have members of our community encouraging others to gather together in an unsafe manner, is irresponsible and disrespectful to those working so hard to keep people healthy and alive,” Dr. Bonnie Coyle, director of Cabarrus Health Alliance, said in a statement.
NC Republican leaders hold party despite COVID-19
The N.C. Republican Party ignored coronavirus-related restrictions when they hosted a party and meetings last weekend.
While North Carolina requires masks to be worn indoors when gathering with people not from the same household, photos show some attendees not wearing masks at the Surry County events. The county is in the red zone on the state’s three-tiered coronavirus map, meaning the COVID-19 spread there is “critical,” The News & Observer reported Friday.
“Elected officials who care about our overwhelmed health workers and the lives of our most vulnerable people will cancel parties and mask up during a critical time of record-high cases and hospitalizations,” Dory MacMillan, press secretary for Gov. Roy Cooper, said in a statement.
The N.C. Republican Party has refused to tell The N&O how many guests attended the events. Before the gatherings, GOP spokesman Tim Wigginton said the party was being held at a restaurant that was subject to the state’s 50% capacity rule for restaurants.
But the state health department said venues being used as event or meeting spaces have different guidelines, which cap attendees at either 100 people or 30%.
“The NCGOP followed all state and federal guidelines and mandates, including crowd-size limits, temperature checks, required masks and social distancing,” Wigginton said in a statement.
Wake County schools report record case count
A record number of new COVID-19 cases was reported in the Wake County school district.
The district added at least 80 cases in the past week, The News & Observer reported. Among those, 33 students and 47 staff members were infected, data show.
The cases were reported at 56 of more than 190 schools in the district. Health officials have said it’s reasonable to expect one new case each week in every school.
The new infections brings the total to 299 cases reported since Oct. 26, the day students started coming back to campuses for in-person classes.
This semester, thousands of students are taking online-only classes.
NC jail placed on 2-day lockdown after cases rise
The Mecklenburg County jail is on lockdown for two days as health care workers respond to a spike in coronavirus cases linked to the facility.
At least 107 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, up from 74 on Monday. Also, about 20 employees who didn’t know they were sick received positive test results, the Charlotte-area sheriff’s office said on Thursday.
The department previously said the rising caseload was due to staff who didn’t know they had contracted the virus returning to work after Thanksgiving.
Wellpath, which is contracted to provide medical care at the jail, will conduct testing through the weekend, The Observer reported.
“In order to facilitate contact tracing as efficiently as possible while minimizing additional exposures and potential spread of the virus, the Detention Center has eliminated all visitation and movement of residents for at least the next 48 hours,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday.
This story was originally published December 12, 2020 at 10:19 AM.
