South Mecklenburg News

County of Mecklenburg issued the following announcement on Jan. 7.

198,698 cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) with 1,326 deaths due to COVID-19 reported among Mecklenburg County residents.

Data as of January 4 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 5 p.m. are counted in the following day's case count.

Highlights about the 193,780 COVID-19 cases reported in Mecklenburg County as of January 4 include:

• During the past week, an average of 2,315 laboratory confirmed infections per day were reported compared to the 14-day average of 1,781 confirmed infections. This represents an increase over the last 14 days. These data are based on Mecklenburg resident cases reported to MCPH.
• During the past week, an average of 374 individuals with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infections were hospitalized at acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County. This represents an increase trend 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 32 percent of individuals who were tested in Mecklenburg County were positive for COVID-19. This represents an increase trend over the last 14 days. These data only include ELRs for molecular (PCR) tests submitted to NC DHHS for laboratories electronically submitting negative and positive COVID-19 results.
• One thousand-three hundred-eighteen deaths due to COVID-19 occurred among reported cases.
  • Eighty percent of the deaths were among older adults (≥ 60 years), 37 deaths occurred in adults ages 20 to 39 and 229 deaths were adults ages 40 to 59.
  • All deaths, except thirty-six, occurred among adults with underlying chronic illnesses.
  • Almost 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.
  • Nearly 30 percent 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 2 in 3 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.
• Beginning October 14, 2021, MCPH has cross-matched reported case data with the COVID Vaccine Management System data regarding vaccinations, for all data going back to the beginning of 2021. As of January 6, 2022, MCPH has received matched and confirmed reports of 12,905 cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated residents (1.9% of fully vaccinated residents).

Original source can be found here.