June 1. By Dave Yochum. Another person has died at Autumn Care of Cornelius, the congregate living facility owned by Saber Healthcare, an Ohio-based chain with more than 10,000 employees across all of its locations and more than $200 million in revenue.
There are now a total of 19 deaths at the Cornelius operation, according to the NC Dept. of Health & Human Services. The outbreak of the coronavirus at the facility is under control, according to Gibbie Harris, Mecklenburg County public health director.
There have been no new cases at Autumn Care in three weeks, Harris said, although the facility on Zion Avenue remains a “specific concern.” All the COVID-19 deaths in Cornelius are attributable to Autumn Care, according to data provided by the County.
The last two COVID-19 deaths at Autumn Care were reported between May 4 and May 8.
There have been a total of 89 cases in Cornelius, Harris said. All of those who passed away had underlying issues, like diabetes or heart problems, she said, noting there is not an outbreak in the Smithville community.
Nationwide, there have been more than 104,000 deaths due to COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.
County-wide, there have been 92 COVID-19 deaths as of Monday morning, up from 88 on Friday and 80 on Tuesday of last week, the day after Memorial Day. Eight out of 10 deaths reported in the US have been among adults 65 and older.
Cornelius Today has tracked new daily cases of COVID-19 over the month of May using Johns Hopkins University’s data. During May, the average new cases per day was 582 and the median new cases per day was 526. In the past seven days, the median was 884 and the average was 751. As there were a few outliers during May (May 22 saw 1,598 new cases alone) this could reflect data reporting inconsistencies; therefore, we have posted the median in addition to the average number of new cases per day.
There were 162 new cases in Mecklenburg County as of 11 am this morning, for a cumulative total of 4,412, the NCDHHS says. Roughly two-thirds have since recovered.
Since the state began a phased re-opening—and vastly increased testing—new cases have increased.
Statewide, the NCDHHS reports 29,263 cumulative cases, up 674 from yesterday and up 5,299 in one week. Testing has soared from 344,690 one week ago to 421,908 as of this morning.
Statewide, DHHS reported 898 deaths, up nine from yesterday and up 144 in the past week.
