CLICK MAP FOR UP TO THE MINUTE STATS
March 19. If you’re not taking the coronavirus seriously, this is what exponential growth looks like:
3/10 – 7 cases
3/12 – 14
3/15 – 32
3/16 – 38
3/17 – 40
3/18 – 66
3/19 – 115
That’s nearly 20 times higher in nine days. “And those are just the known cases,” said NC Sen. Jeff Jackson, of Mecklenburg County. The number of cases here went form 14 cases yesterday to 30 this morning—doubling overnight.
A case of community spread was reported in Wilson County.
Looking at this growth rate, we’re on the same path that many other struggling states are currently on, except we’re a week or two back from where they are now.
JACKSON
Cornelius Today walked up to a shopper at Harris Teeter/Old Jetton early this morning. She was wearing a face-mask. About one in 25 shoppers was wearing one, maybe two in 25 were wearing gloves. Some people had clear produce bags over their hands to pick things off shelves.
Our shopper in a mask said she was a nurse at a large local practice.
“If you saw what’s happening in our office, you’d be wearing a mask, too,” she said.
We are going to see many more cases very soon.
Hospitals are starting to cancel elective surgeries and doing their best to empty hospital beds to prepare for a surge. Our hospital beds are typically 85 percent full across the state.
”If we don’t significantly reduce that number within the next week, that’s a major problem,” Sen. Jackson said.
”We are also finding off-site locations that could be used to care for COVID patients in order to keep non-COVID patients separate and to increase total bed capacity. We all saw how China built a new hospital in ten days. What we’re doing is looking to re-purpose existing large buildings that are currently empty,” he said.
Doctors and hospital are being prepped for the COVID influx.
”Our state medical board is reactivating retired physicians and nurses by waiving requirements for continuing education and academic testing,” Jackson said.
