SOURCE: NC DEPT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

April 30. COVID-19 data from the NC Dept. of Health & Human Services as of 11 am today indicates a 5.6 percent increase in cases statewide overnight. NCDHHS reports 10,509 cases statewide, up 561 from 9,948 yesterday.

SOURCE: NCDHHS

Total deaths increased from 354 to 378. View the NCDHHS report here. Eighty-six percent of the deaths occur in people over 65 years of age.

For Mecklenburg County, NCDHHS reports 1,627 cases and 47 deaths. As of Monday, Autumn Care of Cornelius, a long-term elder care facility, accounted for 10 of them. Seventeen of the county’s deaths have been among long-term care facility residents.

Autumn Care of Cornelius had 53 cases as of Monday.

Nearby counties:

Cabarrus: 296 cases, 11 deaths

Iredell: 111 cases, 5 deaths

Catawba: 53 cases, 1 death

Mecklenburg = epicenter of NC

Mecklenburg continues to be the epicenter of COVID-19 in North Carolina. NCDHHS data indicate that Mecklenburg has 15.48 percent of reported COVID-19 cases.

Wake County, which is almost exactly the same size as Mecklenburg, has 821 cases of the coronavirus, according to NCDHHS. There have been 17 deaths, according to NCDHHS.

Testing increases

The state health agency is reporting a new total of 128,036 tests, up roughly 9,500 from Wednesday.

Reopening NC

One of the key determinants of Gov. Cooper’s phased reopening of North Carolina businesses is “Sustained Leveling or Decreased Trajectory of Lab-Confirmed Cases Over 14 Days.”

With increases in COVID-19 cases in the 300 to 500-plus range, that’s not happening yet.