Davidson COVID-19 Update: 298 Cases Confirmed, 6 Deaths
DAVIDSON, NC — The toll of COVID-19 in Davidson rose to at least 298 lab-confirmed cases and six deaths, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services data released Friday.
The news came as Mecklenburg County reported its first COVID-19 cluster at a K-12 school, Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said Friday. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services defines a cluster as five or more lab-confirmed cases that are linked.
The cluster was reported at a private school and included six cases of COVID-19 reported among students and teachers, Harris said. "That classroom is now being fully quarantined," she said.
While Mecklenburg County has had isolated cases related to schools, "this was the first one that rose to the cluster level," Harris said, adding that school-related cases tend to be outside exposures that get brought into the school.
Statewide, there were at least 123 positive COVID-19 cases associated with school clusters, along with at least 370 positive cases and three deaths associated with child care centers reported Sept. 25.
Mecklenburg County's rate of COVID-19 tests coming back with positive results, as well as the number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations have both decreased in the last 14 days.
As of Friday, at least 28,228 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Mecklenburg County, along with 350 deaths. The county's positivity rate averaged about 5.2 percent, MCPH said.
According to recent data, about one in 20 reported COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg County led to hospitalization, and about 80 percent of the county's total number of cases met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria to be released from isolation.
Overall, hospitalizations in the Charlotte metro region are on the decline, according to county health officials.
"During the past week, an average of 91 individuals with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infections were hospitalized at acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County," MCPH said. "Overall, this represents a decrease over the last 14 days."
The number of known coronavirus cases in North Carolina rose to 204,331 total cases Friday. The tally reflected an increase of 6,142 known cases over the number reported Thursday — a dramatic increase due to DHHS' new inclusion of rapid antigen testing data in daily metrics.
"Reporting on antigen tests has been challenging, as antigen tests are typically administered at the point of care such as a clinician’s office," DHHS said Friday. "To date, there have been far fewer cases diagnosed by antigen tests than by molecular (PCR) tests in North Carolina. However, antigen testing is expanding in various point-of-care settings, such as nursing homes and health care provider offices."
The state's COVID-19 death toll rose by 53 Friday, increasing the number of lives lost to COVID-19 in North Carolina to 3,409.
As of Sept. 23, about 5.2 percent of tests in North Carolina were positive, according to DHHS data.
Throughout the state, at least 903 patients were hospitalized for COVID-like symptoms Friday, one more than were reported the day before.
Globally, more than 32 million people have been infected by COVID-19, and more than 984,000 people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Sept. 25. In the United States, more than 6.9 million people have been infected and more than 203,000 people have died from COVID-19.
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This article originally appeared on the Davidson Patch
