​Data for August 23

Mecklenburg County, NC– As of 8 a.m. this morning, there were 24,501 cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), with 282 deaths due to COVID-19 reported among Mecklenburg County residents. Data from Sunday, August 23 are presented below.
 
As of August 23, 2020, there were 24,261 cases and 282 deaths due to COVID-19 among county residents reported to Mecklenburg County Public Health (MCPH).

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 5 p.m. are counted in the following days case count.

Highlights about the epidemiology of COVID-19 in Mecklenburg County as of August 23, 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 120 laboratory confirmed infections were reported similar to the 14-day average of 122 confirmed infections. These data are based on Mecklenburg resident cases reported to MCPH.
  
  

• During the past week, an average of 145 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 by Atrium Health, Novant Health, CVS Health and Walgreens when available. 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.
  
  

• Two hundred-eighty-two 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 38 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.
  

Congregate Living Settings with Active COVID-19 Outbreaks (as of August 24, 2020) 

Distribution of COVID-19 Cases Reported to MCPH by Zip Code of Patient’s Residence (as of August 23, 2020)