Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on May 13

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We’re keeping track of the most up-to-date news about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.

Reported cases and deaths

At least 16,193 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 618 have died as of Wednesday afternoon, according to state and county health departments.

On Wednesday, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported 470 new cases, an increase from the 301 reported the day before.

The state was averaging 437 new daily cases over the last seven days as of Wednesday.

Health officials say more than 210,400 COVID-19 tests had been completed as of Wednesday, up from about 202,200 on Tuesday. The state’s goal is to test between 5,000 and 7,000 people each day.

As of Wednesday, the state was averaging about 7,200 tests each day over the last seven days.

About 7.5% of overall tests have come back positive.

At least 521 North Carolinians were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday, up from 475 the day before.

Avery County, in western North Carolina, remains the only county that has not reported a case of the virus. At least one death has been reported in 73 counties.

Hospitals given treatment drug

Seven North Carolina hospitals have been given a small supply of the treatment drug remdesivir.

The company that developed the drug, Gilead Sciences, has donated it to hospitals across the country and sent 400 vials to North Carolina for hospitals in Wake and Orange counties, Durham, Greensboro, Greenville and Winston-Salem to use.

The drug has been shown to reduce recovery times in COVID-19 patients.

Counties request exemption from orders

Officials from eight counties in eastern North Carolina want to be able to reopen on their own schedules.

In a letter to Gov. Roy Cooper last week, they requested that they be exempted from his coronavirus-related orders.

“Our rural geography and low population density should not be lumped together with much larger urban counties that face very different challenges,” they wrote in the letter. “We all agree that the most recent data clearly reflects that the curve in Central Eastern North Carolina has flattened and that our timing for reopening should be much sooner than other parts of North Carolina.”

The letter was signed by county commissioner chairpersons in Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow, Pamlico and Wayne counties.

Another salute to health care workers

The Flying For The Flag Bandit Flight Team will do flyovers in North Carolina as a salute to health care workers amid the coronavirus pandemic for the second week in a row.

The flyovers, which will be at hospitals in the state, will start in the Triangle on Thursday. They’ll also be held in Moore County on Saturday, Greensboro and Winston-Salem on May 19 and Charlotte on May 21.

Those watching the flyovers should still social distance and avoid gathering in large groups.

Coronavirus recovery

North Carolina is home to two of the U.S. cities with the best chances to bounce back from COVID-19, according to a Moody’s Analytics report.

Raleigh and Durham made it onto the list of places that are better positioned for recovery, McClatchy News reported.

The Moody’s Analytics report says people who lived through the coronavirus may consider cities that give them more space to spread out.

Unemployment fact-check

A leader of the Reopen NC Facebook group in a post questioned how many people would die due to coronavirus-related restrictions in the state.

“The rule is for every 1% rise in unemployment, there is a 2% rise in death rates overall,” Ashley Smith wrote, according to The News & Observer.

But most modern research has linked “higher unemployment rates” to “lower mortality rates,” the newspaper reported as part of its Fact-Checking Project.

Meat-packing plants

Coronavirus outbreaks were reported at 23 meat and poultry processing facilities in North Carolina. State officials say 1,340 workers have been affected, and no plants had closed as of May 5.

“The plants are in Bertie, Bladen, Burke, Chatham, Duplin, Lee, Lenoir, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Surry, Union, Wilkes and Wilson counties,” The News & Observer reported Wednesday.

Nursing home cases

New coronavirus outbreaks have been linked to care facilities in the Triangle area, county governments say.

Wake County on Tuesday announced infections at Brookdale North Raleigh and Brookdale Wake Forest.

In Durham County, three cases were tied to Carver Rehabilitation and Living Center, The News & Observer reported.

Also on Tuesday, Franklin County officials said two residents and one employee of Louisburg Manor Assisted Living Facility tested positive for the coronavirus.

State health officials as of Tuesday listed 90 nursing home outbreaks in the state.

State a ‘location to watch’

North Carolina was named a “location to watch” for rising cases of COVID-19 in a White House coronavirus task force report, The Charlotte Observer reports.

The Charlotte area was also named as the top location to watch.

The report comes as North Carolina has started to reopen, with Phase One of Gov. Roy Cooper’s plan underway.

A “location to watch” is one that has a more than 10% increase in cases week-to-week, at least 200 cases and between 30 and 100 new cases per 100,000 people in the week before.

Free drive-through testing

Two counties have free drive-through coronavirus testing available, and more are expected to join.

The tests, paid for at the federal level, are available at the Walgreens at 3793 Guess Road in Durham and at the Walmart at 210 Greenville Blvd. SW in Greenville. As many as eight more North Carolina counties are expected to have such testing available soon.

“The tests at these sites are paid for by the federal government so there is no cost for the people getting tests,” Mandy Cohen, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services secretary, said last week, according to The New & Observer. “Another great piece of news.”

Those who meet requirements can sign up for an appointment to be tested in Durham at walgreens.com/findcare/covid19/testing or in Greenville at doineedacovid19test.com.

Another protest

The group ReOpenNC held a protest in Raleigh on Tuesday for the fifth week in a row. About 200 attended.

The rally, which called for an end to coronavirus-related restrictions, was held as the state is under Phase One of the governor’s plan to reopen.

During the protest, a plane flew by with a banner holding a message from counter protesters. “Fewer graves if we reopen in waves,” it read.