CHARLOTTE, NC — North Carolina confirmed nearly 900 novel coronavirus cases since Tuesday as the state’s death toll from COVID-19 increased once again by double digits inside a day, according to a new batch of data released Wednesday by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
The news comes hours after President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night through a series of tweets that the Republican National Convention will not be held in Charlotte in August as planned due to the state’s current coronavirus restrictions.
North Carolina labs confirmed 888 cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, increasing the state’s total number to nearly 31,000. There were 18 coronavirus-related deaths reported in North Carolina since Tuesday, pushing the death toll to 939, NC DHHS said.
As of June 1, an estimated 18,860 COVID-19 patients in North Carolina were presumed recovered, DHHS said.
While the number of known cases increased Wednesday, hospitalizations decreased by 32, for a total of 684 patients in hospitals around the state for treatment of coronavirus-related illness.
The state collected results from more than 14,300 tests Wednesday, increasing the total number of tests processed in the state to nearly 450,000. The state’s goal is to test between 5,000 and 7,000 people per day and state public health officials say increases in the number of confirmed cases are expected as testing ramps up throughout North Carolina.
COVID-19 outbreaks in congregate living facilities, such as nursing homes, residential care facilities and correctional facilities included 5,786 confirmed cases Wednesday, or about 18 percent of the total cases in the state, according to DHHS data.
As of Wednesday, 92 of the state’s 409 nursing home facilities had a COVID-19 outbreak. State health officials also reported outbreaks at 45 residential care facilities and 19 correctional facilities. At least 492 nursing home residents, 73 residential care facility residents and 19 inmates in North Carolina have died from coronavirus-related illness.
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According to the state agency, a survey of about 88 percent of the state’s hospitals shows that 25 percent of North Carolina’s ventilators are currently in use. The supply of hospital beds around the state, however, is growing thin, with 85 percent of the state’s intensive care beds and 76 percent of inpatient hospital beds listed as in use Wednesday.
Earlier this week, NC DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said there was concern that recent racial justice protests in the state could potentially become spreader events.
It will be weeks before state health officials can determine what impact, if any, protests will have on the number of COVID-19 cases in North Carolina, according to one official.
“We will have to wait and see if the weekend events will spread more virus,” DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said Monday. “The hard part of this virus is we don’t know who is a superspreader.”
North Carolina has experienced an acceleration in the viral spread indicated by an increase in the number of hospitalizations and larger increases in day-over-day COVID-19 confirmations, she said. The trends, however, have not yet been traced to specific events, such as recent Reopen NC protests or the easing of restrictions ahead of Memorial Day weekend, Cohen said, adding not enough time has elapsed since those events.
Mecklenburg County, the hardest hit county in the state, reported 258 new cases since Monday, for a total of 4,670 confirmed cases as of June 3. The county has also reported four new COVID-19 deaths, for a total of 96.
“Unfortunately, the events over the last couple of days and the lack of social distancing has the potential of making some impact as well,” Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris told the Board of Commissioners Tuesday evening. “It seems like now we’re in a position of watching the data,” Harris said.
North Carolina is currently under a “Phase 2” executive order, which bans mass gatherings for groups of 25 or more outdoors and 10 or more indoors. That executive order is set to be in place through at least June 26.
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“I was pleased when the governor decided to go five weeks with Phase 2 because it gives us more time to see what the impact of the [Phase 2] opening,” before he makes a decision regarding when to move into Phase 3, Harris said.
Trump, however, has publicly taken aim at restrictions put in place by Gov. Roy Cooper aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 in the state, and is demanding a “full convention” with no restrictions requiring the 19,000 attendees wear face coverings or socially distance.
The four-day RNC event is scheduled to begin Aug. 24.
“The people of North Carolina do not know what the status of COVID-19 will be in August, so planning for a scaled-down convention with fewer people, social distancing and face coverings is a necessity,” Cooper said.