‘Concerning increases’ in COVID spread among young adults, NCDHHS says

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Eighteen counties have moved up a tier (toward red) since the last report while 19 counties having moved down a tier (toward green).

North Carolina’s key metrics show a leveling of COVID-19 trends after several weeks of decline, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Most of the state continues to experience significant or substantial community spread with what the NCDHHS calls “concerning increases in younger adult age groups.”

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”We want to see our trends in new cases, hospitalizations and percent positive of tests decline again,” said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy K. Cohen. “The best way we can do that is by having as many people get vaccinated as quickly as possible and keep wearing our masks when out in public.”

The COVID-19 County Alert System gives people, businesses and community organizations, and public officials a tool to understand how their county is faring and to make decisions about actions to take slow the spread of the virus. The COVID-19 County Alert System uses metrics informed by North Carolina’s key metrics to categorize counties into five tiers:

• Green: Low Community Spread
• Light Yellow: Moderate Community Spread
• Yellow: Significant Community Spread
• Orange: Substantial Community Spread
• Red: Critical Community Spread

WHAT ABOUT CLOSER TO HOME?

As of Friday morning there were 106,095 cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) with 928 deaths due to COVID-19 reported among Mecklenburg County residents.

Highlights about the 105,702 COVID-19 cases reported in Mecklenburg County as of April 14, 2021 include:

• During the past week, an average of 269 laboratory confirmed infections per day were reported compared to the 14-day average of 239 confirmed infections. This represents an increase over the last 14 days. These data are based on Mecklenburg resident cases reported to MCPH.
• During the past week, an average of 142 individuals with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infections were hospitalized at acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County. This represents an increase over the last 14 days. These data are based on daily census counts from acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County reporting to MCPH.
• During the past week, an average of 7.7 percent of individuals who were tested in Mecklenburg County were positive for COVID-19. This represents an increase trend over the last 14 days. These data only include ELRs for molecular (PCR) tests submitted to NC DHHS for laboratories electronically submitting negative and positive COVID-19 results.
• Nine hundred-twenty-eight deaths due to COVID-19 occurred among reported cases.
• Almost all deaths were among older adults (≥ 60 years), 14 deaths occurred in adults ages 20 to 39 and 114 deaths were adults ages 40 to 59.
• All deaths, except twenty-five, occurred among adults with underlying chronic illnesses.
• Almost half were non-Hispanic Whites. The disparity in COVID-19 deaths among non-Hispanic Whites is related to differences in race/ethnicity of residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities actively experiencing an outbreak.
• Nearly 40 percent of deaths were connected to active outbreaks at long-term care (LTC) facilities.
• Among deaths not connected to outbreaks at long-term care facilities, nearly 3 in 4 were non-White, with 40 percent being non-Hispanic Black. As previously noted, these disparities are largely driven by higher rates of underlying chronic conditions that increase risk of severe complications due to COVID-19 infection among these communities.
• Based on publicly available mobility tracking data, social distancing represents a fairly stable trend in Mecklenburg County over the last 14 days.