Using Johns Hopkins data, we compiled a chart of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 per day in NC from June 8 through July 8. The state’s average number of new daily cases since June 8 is 1,357 and the median is 1,411. The past 7-day average and median are slightly higher, at 1,562 and 1,465, respectively.
July 9. By Dave Yochum. More than 2,000 new cases of the coronavirus were reported between yesterday’s NC Dept. of Health & Human Services noon-time update and today’s. The state is reporting a total of 79,349 cases, up 2,039 from yesterday. It’s a record increase; hospitalizations climbed above the 1,000 mark for the first time, to 1,034 statewide.
Yesterday at this time there were 994 hospitalizations. Deaths rose overnight by 20, to 1,461 total. While too many, it’s a far cry from the 32,251 deaths reported by Johns Hopkins University in New York, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johns Hopkins data show 132,570 COVID-19 deaths nationwide. There have been 158 deaths reported in Mecklenburg, with16 in Cornelius—all of them apparently at the Autumn Care nursing home on Zion Avenue. There have been three deaths in Davidson and four in Huntersville.
COVID-19 testing has reached 1.12 million in North Carolina, with about 10 percent of them coming back positive.
Mecklenburg County has reported the most cases of COVID-19 statewide, with 13,757 since NCDHHS began tracking the outbreak in March. The total today is up 268, compared to yesterday’s increase of 172, and 206 on Tuesday.
Trajectories changing
The gap between the history of new cases over the past seven days and the past month in Mecklenburg County has shrunk to nothing, suggesting that efforts to control the spread are working.
Based on data from Johns Hopkins University, the median number of new COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg over the past seven days—269 new cases per day—is the same as the median number of cases over the past month.
There may be a similar trend statewide. The median number of daily new cases over the past week is 1,465, while the median number of new cases over the past month is 1,411. The difference is 3.8 percent. At some points in the past month, the difference was more than 40 percent, suggesting a surge was under way.
Mecklenburg accounts for approximately 17.7 percent of the statewide cases.
It’s unclear, however, precisely how schools will reopen in August. Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to lay out his plan for reopening schools across the state next week. He will also release details about Phase Three of reopening as COVID-19 continues to spread but at a slower rate than some other “hot spot” states.
