COVID vaccine live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on May 3
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We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus and vaccines in North Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases surpass 974,000
At least 974,319 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 12,691 have died since March 2020, according to state health officials.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported 1,126 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, down from 1,618 on Sunday and 1,823 on Saturday. The state doesn’t update case counts over the weekends.
Forty additional coronavirus-related deaths were reported Monday. Deaths don’t all occur on the day the state reports them. The state health department revises its daily figures as information becomes available.
At least 1,007 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus as of Monday, up from 986 reported the day before.
As of Saturday, the latest day for which data is available, 6% of coronavirus tests were reported positive. Health officials say 5% or lower is the target rate to slow the spread of the virus.
Nearly half of adults in North Carolina, or 49.6%, have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. At least 41.7% are fully vaccinated.
Most Charlotte colleges won’t require vaccine
Most students attending colleges or universities in the Charlotte area won’t be required to get the coronavirus vaccine before classes start next fall.
At least six of the 13 schools within 65 miles of Charlotte said they won’t require a vaccination in a recent survey by Queens University News Service. They include UNC Charlotte, Central Piedmont Community College, Belmont Abbey College, Davidson College, Gardner-Webb University and Lenoir-Rhyne University.
Gibbie Harris, Mecklenburg County Public Health Director, previously said she would leave the decision to individual universities but voiced concern about unvaccinated students coming to Charlotte.
“From my perspective, many of the students coming to our universities are coming from other parts of the country,” Harris said. “We don’t know if they are coming in from places with high rates of the virus, and we don’t know currently which of the variants are most common in those communities. So, as students come back in, I would prefer that they be vaccinated, absolutely.”
Case rate slightly drops in Charlotte area, but ZIP codes vary
Coronavirus cases are slightly down in Mecklenburg County, but rates vary in neighborhoods throughout the region.
During the two weeks leading up to April 28, the county saw 295 new COVID-19 cases for every 100,000 residents. No Charlotte-area ZIP code had more than 500 new cases per 100,000 people, data show.
While the University City area was home to the county’s highest concentration of infections, the lowest was near Lake Norman, The Charlotte Observer reported on Monday.
Gibbie Harris, public health director for Mecklenburg County, said Thursday that Mecklenburg was experiencing “slight upticks and down-ticks every week.”
Since the start of the pandemic, the county has reported 945 coronavirus-related deaths and nearly 110,000 cases of the disease.
How many people are vaccinated in Triangle counties?
Forty-seven percent of residents in Orange County have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 41.2% were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, health officials say.
During the past week, Orange County reported 96 new cases, up from 90 reported the week before. An average of 0.8% of tests were returning positive over the past 14 days as of Thursday.
In nearby Durham County, 40.2% of residents are at least partially vaccinated and 34.2% are fully vaccinated.
Durham County added 314 new cases over the past week, down from 410 the week before. An average of 3.8% of tests were returning positive as of Thursday.
In Wake County, 38% of residents are partially vaccinated and 30.7% are fully vaccinated against the virus.
The county reported 1,147 new cases in the past seven days, up from the 997 new cases added the week before. An average of 4.9% of tests over a 14-day period were returning positive as of Thursday.
Vaccination data for other Triangle and surrounding counties can be found here.
In Mecklenburg County, home to Charlotte, the average vaccination rate across all ZIP codes was 43%, according to an analysis by The Charlotte Observer of data released Friday.
But some ZIP codes in the Charlotte area where residents are predominately white have higher COVID-19 vaccination rates than other parts of Mecklenburg County, and some of the areas hit hardest by the pandemic have some of the lowest vaccination rates.
“Marginalized communities in Mecklenburg’s crescent have some of the lowest rates of vaccinations, while those in the wedge — a collection of affluent neighborhoods in south Charlotte — have some of the highest,” The Observer reported Friday.
This story was originally published May 3, 2021 at 7:46 AM.
