Gov. Cooper at press conference Aug. 4

Aug. 4. The NC Dept. of Health & Human Services Wednesday reported 3,413 new cases of the coronavirus, the greatest single-day increase since mid-February.

Hospitalizations due to COVID climbed to 1,580 today up from a total of 1,465 yesterday. It’s the highest number hospitalized since late February.

There were 21 new COVID deaths statewide in today’s NCDHHS report.

Press conference

Within 90 minutes of the NC Dept. of Health & Human Services reporting more than 3,000 new cases of the coronavirus and positive tests over 12 percent, Gov. Roy Cooper said he would support mandating vaccinations for workers in nursing home settings.

Nursing homes were at the center of coronavirus outbreaks last spring.

Cooper encouraged those who have been vaccinated to encourage friends and family to get the shot

New variant reported

The Delta variant, which has become the predominant variant in Mecklenburg County, spreads significantly faster compared to earlier strains. Yesterday The Washington Post reported that South Korea’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency recorded at least two cases of a new “delta-plus” variant, which some experts believe to be even more transmissible than the original delta variant

Testing

Positive testing statewide rose to 12.2 percent in today’s report. On Jan. 2, during the Christmas holiday surge, the statewide positivity rate was 15.5 percent. Trending downward from 5 percent is the NCDHHS goal.

Mecklenburg County

In Mecklenburg County, there were 462 new coronavirus cases between Tuesday’s report and today’s. There was one new COVID-related death. The county-wide positive test rate rose to 10.9 percent according to NCDHHS.

North Mecklenburg (change from Monday to Tuesday)

Cornelius: 13 new cases, 3,068 cumulative; 26 deaths total.

Davidson: 6 new cases, 1,802 cumulative; 15 deaths total.

Huntersville: 44 new cases 6,511 cumulative; 54 deaths total.