Coronavirus Hospitalizations, Infections Dip In Mecklenburg

Kimberly Johnson
·2 min read

CHARLOTTE, NC — Hospitalizations for coronavirus illness have decreased in Mecklenburg County, according to new data released Friday by public health officials.

In the past week, Mecklenburg County reported an average of 511 individuals confirmed to have COVID-19 were hospitalized in the county, which is a decrease over the last two weeks, Mecklenburg County Public Health said.

At the same time, the daily average of lab-confirmed coronavirus cases have dropped from a 14-day average of 828 cases to 757 cases, MCPH said. In the past week, the percent of positive cases have also decreased to 12.4 percent.

"What we're starting to see is a slight downward trend in our numbers," Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said during a news conference Friday.

Harris issued a caution regarding the development.

"We are hoping that those numbers continue to move in that direction, and the faster the better. But at this point, it's a slight trend and we've seen before those slight trends going away and numbers moving back up. We're hesitant to start making decisions based on what we're seeing right now."

As COVID vaccination efforts continue to ramp up throughout the community, county health officials urge residents to only leave their home for essential activities.

"Right now, the availability of vaccine continues to be the challenge," Harris said. "There's just not enough to go around, and we continue to advocate with the state for more vaccine coming into our community."

When it comes to vaccine distribution plans, Mecklenburg County health officials are not given a lot of time to plan week to week, she said. "We have been encouraged by the state to be prepared for vaccine each week," Harris said. "We don't know each week what we're going to get."

Vaccines are coming to the county in a trickle.

"We learned this morning that we will be receiving only 1,950 doses of the Pfizer vaccine here at the health department," Dr. Meg Sullivan, MCPH Medical Director, said Friday. "Therefore vaccine administration next week will definitely be limited by the supply that we receive."

As of the evening of Jan. 21, MCPH had administered more than 10,000 doses of vaccine, Sullivan said. Friday, the health department scheduled 450 vaccination appointments at its clinic in the Bojangles Coliseum, and by the end of the day next Monday, MCPH will have administered all of the first doses the county has received to date, she said.

As of Jan. 20, 573,130 doses of COVID vaccine had been administered throughout the state, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said.

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This article originally appeared on the Charlotte Patch