​Data for August 26

Charlotte, NC– As of 5 p.m. on August 27, 2020 there were 24,952 cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) with 290 deaths due to COVID-19 reported among Mecklenburg County residents.
 
Of note, approximately 792 COVID-19 tests were conducted among individuals attending or providing support to the Republican National Convention (RNC) Meeting in the City of Charlotte. Of these, 2 attendees and 2 individuals supporting the event tested positive for COVID-19. These individuals were immediately issued isolation instructions and any known close contacts were notified and issued quarantine instructions by Mecklenburg County Public Health (MCPH). As previously reported, additional details about the RNC Meeting will be included in the official After Action Report, unless there is a recognized threat to the public's health.

Additionally, since early August, at least 62 cases of COVID-19 among Mecklenburg County residents were connected to higher educational institutions outside of Mecklenburg County. MCPH conducted initial case interviews with these residents and transferred the cases to local health departments where the resident is currently residing for additional follow-up as per routine protocol. These cases are not included in the Mecklenburg County data.

Data as of August 26, 2020 are presented in more detail below. MCPH provides these routine updates about reported cases of COVID-19 to help our community better understand how this pandemic is developing in our county. These results only reflect laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 among county residents. Many individuals infected by COVID-19 have not been tested because they are asymptomatic. As such, these results are very fluid and only represent a fraction of the true burden of COVID-19 in our community.

Daily case counts provided by MCPH may differ from state and federal counts due to delays in reporting to the various entities. MCPH updates case counts after an initial case review and, where possible, a patient interview is conducted, which includes confirming county residency. Cases reported after 5PM are counted in the following days case count.

Highlights about the 24,741 COVID-19 cases reported in Mecklenburg County as of August 26, 2020 include:

• About 3 in 4 reported cases were adults ages 20 to 59 years old.

• About 3 in 10 reported cases are Hispanic – most of whom are younger adults. As previously noted, some factors influencing this trend include:
• Targeted testing occurring in neighborhoods with lower access to care, some of which have larger Hispanic populations;
• Higher proportions of Hispanics working in essential jobs that make social distancing difficult;
• Significant household spread among large families; and
• Pre-existing disparities in other social and economic determinants of health, like poverty.

 
MCPH continues to expand outreach to Hispanic members of our community, including increased dissemination of the outreach toolkit in Spanish for community partners, setting up targeted outreach to Hispanic owned- and serving-businesses, and partnering with local organizations and media outlets to spread key prevention messages. 

• About 1 in 20 reported cases were hospitalized due to their COVID-19 infection. While everyone is at risk for severe COVID-19 complications, reported cases who were older adults (≥ 60 years) were more likely to be hospitalized compared to younger individuals.

• About 3 out of 4 have met CDC criteria to be released from isolation.

• During the past week, an average of 130 laboratory confirmed infections were reported compared to the 14-day average of 118 confirmed infections. These data are based on Mecklenburg resident cases reported to MCPH.

• During the past week, an average of 140 individuals with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infections were hospitalized at acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County.  Overall this represents a decrease 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 6.4 percent of individuals who were tested in Mecklenburg County were positive for COVID-19. This represents a decrease over the last 14 days. These data only include tests conducted in Mecklenburg County by Atrium Health, Novant Health, CVS Health, Walgreens Pharmacy and Tryon Medical Partners as available. Tryon Medical Partners began providing data as of August 11, 2020. These data were validated and included for the first time in this report. Given the overall volume, the addition had very little impact on the overall trends. Reporting of negative results to MCPH is not required or covered by communicable disease reporting laws. MCPH will include results from other providers and laboratories as accurate, consistent and timely reporting mechanisms are established. MCPH

• Two hundred-ninety deaths due to COVID-19 occurred among reported cases.
• Almost all deaths were among older adults (≥ 60 years), 4 deaths occurred in adults ages 20 to 39 and 39 deaths were adults ages 40 to 59.
• All deaths, except three, occurred among adults with underlying chronic illnesses.
• More than 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.
• More than half 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 slightly increased then slightly decreased in Mecklenburg County over the last 14 days. Overall, this represents a fairly stable trend over the last 14 days.

More data on the epidemiology of COVID-19 in Mecklenburg County as of August 26, 2020:

Daily Percent Positive of Laboratory COVID-19 Tests¹ (as of August 26, 2020)



Select Characteristics of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths Reported to MCPH (as of August 26, 2020)


 
Daily COVID-19 Testing³ (as of August 26, 2020)




Distribution of COVID-19 Cases Reported to MCPH by Race/Ethnicity and Age  (as of August 26, 2020)




Total COVID-19 Cases Reported to MCPH Released from Isolation⁴ (as of August 26, 2020)




Daily Hospital Census of Patients with Laboratory Confirmed COVID-19⁵ (as of August 26, 2020)



Daily Social Distancing Index⁶ (as of August 20, 2020)

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Congregate Living Settings with Active COVID-19 Outbreaks (as of August 27, 2020) 

For more details about active and past outbreaks/clusters, including counts of cases and deaths, please access the NC DHHS Outbreaks and Clusters Dashboard.
 
Total Active Outbreaks in Congregate Living Settings: 31
Total Active Clusters in Child Care and School Settings: 3

Distribution of COVID-19 Cases Reported to MCPH by Zip Code of Patient’s Residence (as of August 26, 2020)

COVID-19 Cases (per 100,000 residents) Reported to MCPH by Zip Code of Patient’s Residence (as of August 26, 2020)

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It is important to make sure the information you are getting about COVID-19 is coming directly from reliable sources like MCPH, CDC and NCDHHS. The best resource for information about COVID-19 in Mecklenburg County is the County’s COVID-19 website. Individuals can also call the County’s COVID-19 hotline at 980-314-9400. For more information, please visit the CDC’s website and NCDHHS’ website, which will also include future positive COVID-19 test results in North Carolina.