NC’s COVID-19 cases peak for third day in a row as completed tests near 500,000
The number of newly reported coronavirus cases reached a new peak on Saturday as North Carolina approached 500,000 completed tests.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services also reported 992 deaths on Saturday, up 26 from a day earlier.
The number of North Carolinians hospitalized for COVID-19 fell by nine to 708 after reaching a record high of 717 on Friday.
DHHS reported 1,370 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, marking a record high for a third day in a row and pushing the state’s total to 34,625. The state had added 1,189 new cases Thursday and 1,289 new cases Friday, The News & Observer reported.
More testing
The number of new tests rose by 15,203 on Saturday to a total of 497,350.
The percentage of positive cases rose to 10% Friday, the latest figure available, up slightly from Thursday’s 9%.
State public health officials track coronavirus spread through four main metrics: hospitalization, the percentage of people who visit emergency rooms with COVID-19-like symptoms, the number of new cases, and the percentage of people who tested positive.
The rate of people showing symptoms in emergency rooms has been declining. The number of people testing positive continues to rise, but the percentage of people testing positive has remained steady — indicating more testing is a factor in the increasing cases.
Hospitalizations up
Hospitalizations have crept up in the last two weeks, The News & Observer has reported.
From mid-April to mid-May the number of hospitalized individuals mostly remained between 400 and 550.
Since May 25, an average of 671 people a day have been hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide. Hospitalizations have exceeded 700 for three of the past five days.
“These are very concerning numbers,” DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said in an emailed statement. “We must protect our loved ones and neighbors by working together. It begins with the three Ws — wearing a face covering, waiting six feet apart and washing hands frequently. It doesn’t stop there. Testing and knowing who has been exposed so they can have the resources and support they need are our tools for slowing the spread of this virus.”
Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease physician at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, said new cases can vary with the number tests, while counting people who end up in the hospital is a more straightforward measure of the outbreak.
“I think that’s really the truest canary in the coal mine for us,” Wohl said this week. “If we’re seeing people get sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, that’s telling you we have not flattened the curve.”
Wolhl worried that upward trend would continue as much of the state reopened two weeks ago and protests continue in the streets across the state.
The News & Observer is keeping a separate count of cases and deaths based on totals from the state and county health departments. Those numbers, which tend to be higher because the state updates its numbers once a day, showed 34,717 cases and 1,028 deaths early Saturday afternoon.
County cases
The numbers of new cases also continued to climb in the Triangle and in the Charlotte area. As of Saturday afternoon:
▪ In Mecklenburg County, cases increased to 5,358 and 106 deaths.
▪ Durham County cases increased to 2,025, with 48 deaths.
▪ Wake County cases increased to 2,155. Forty people have died in Wake.
▪ Orange County’s cases increased to 388. There have been 40 deaths in Orange.
On Friday Durham County and city officials expressed concern about the number of increasing cases and their disproportionate effect on the Hispanic population.
About 71% of those who have tested positive in Durham are Hispanic or Latino. Hispanics and Latinos make up about 14% of the county’s total population.
“Our Latinx population is really bearing the brunt of the virus in Durham,” Mayor Steve Schewel said during a Durham Recovery and Task Force meeting. “I think that is something that we have just got to do everything in our power to take on in the immediate future.”
Durham County Health Department Director Rodney Jenkins said contact tracing information indicates that 85% to 95% of the new cases are Hispanic.
It’s unclear how increased testing has affected Durham’s overall infection rate since the county hasn’t been able to obtain the total number of tests and negative cases.
“I continue to hound the Department of Health and Human Services for this information, but I have not received it yet,” Jenkins said.
Improvements to unemployment claims process
The new head of the state unemployment office announced Friday a plan to address older claims and improve customer service as more than 1 million people have applied for assistance during the pandemic.
Pryor Gibson, assistant secretary of the state Division of Employment Security, wrote in a memorandum that the agency planned improvements that include:
▪ Dedicating a team of experts to focus on the oldest, most complicated cases.
▪ Increasing the number of people working on claims issues.
▪ Providing an option for people to check their claim status by phone without waiting to speak to a division representative. An option to get status updates online is to be available soon.
▪ Connecting callers with older claims to advanced agents who can assist with complex claims.
As of Friday, the unemployment division had determined whether applicants were eligible for benefits for 93% of the 1 million claims sought since March 15, the memo said.
Fewer than 57,000 claims filed more than three weeks ago remained.
Late last month, Cooper announced Gibson would move into the role of leading the state’s unemployment office, moving Lockhart Taylor, who was previously in that position, to a different job.
Cooper didn’t give an explanation for the change, but the move followed numerous complaints about long waits by those trying to reach someone in the office or to get benefits as the state faces historic levels of unemployment.
This story was originally published June 6, 2020 at 11:57 AM with the headline "NC’s COVID-19 cases peak for third day in a row as completed tests near 500,000."
