How a year of the COVID-19 pandemic radically altered NC, shown in 15 charts

Exactly one year ago, state health officials announced the first diagnosis of COVID-19 in North Carolina.

The case count has ballooned to nearly 900,000 in the months since, claiming the lives of more than 11,000 residents along the way. And alongside the enormous toll of sickness and loss, the novel coronavirus left its mark on nearly every aspect of life in 2020, from employment and court activity to state park visits and liquor sales.

Here’s a look at just 15 ways the global pandemic changed things for all of us in North Carolina in 2020.

More businesses downsized in 2020

Just how many businesses shuttered amid the pandemic is hard to say.

The N.C. Retail Merchants Association doesn’t track that number, according to spokesperson Ann Edmondson.

Not all “closed” restaurants will be shuttered permanently, says N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association COVID Program Manager Shannon McGuire, since some are planning to welcome diners after restrictions ease. But the National Restaurant Association estimates more than 110,000 restaurants and bars have closed — temporarily or permanently — in 2020.

One other way to track closings is through layoff notices filed with the state. These notifications don’t track smaller companies, since businesses only need to file them if they employ more than 100 workers and hit certain layoff numbers. But they’re one indicator of how poorly some companies fared in 2020.

Compared to the previous three-year average, companies filed nearly five times as many layoff notices with the N.C. Department of Commerce in 2020. And those 2020 layoffs impacted three times the number of workers as the previous three-year average.

The downsizing meant big jumps in the unemployment rate, especially in the spring.

Although the North Carolina jobless rate has since declined from those April and May highs, it remains stuck at about 6%, several points higher than the past few years.

The pandemic impacts, however, didn’t push more students into public universities. Overall enrollment in UNC System campuses, following years of increasing student populations, saw growth all but stagnate in 2020.

Among all the dour economic indicators, there is at least one apparent bright spot. New businesses registered with the Secretary of State’s office jumped in 2020, totaling more than 100,000 for the first time.

Court activity, prison populations drop

Although the number varies a bit year over year, North Carolina criminal courts typically see around 1.4 million cases a year covering everything from felonies to minor traffic tickets.

But in 2020, the annual case count dropped about 24% statewide after a plunge in March.

That makes sense to Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, who noted that with people sheltered in place, bars closed, retailers shuttered and fewer drivers on the road, there was a corresponding decline in criminal activity. She said it’s also likely police scaled back enforcement for many lower-level crimes, both as a response to the virus and to mass protests over police misconduct throughout the year.

“An individual that might have gotten stopped for a broken tail light probably didn’t get stopped,” Freeman said.

But she said not all categories of crime dropped in tandem.

“It would be unfortunate not to note at the same time that there appears to be an increase in violent offenses — homicide and domestic violence being the two most notable to us,” she said.

Prison populations across the state also saw a precipitous decline as N.C. Department of Public Safety leaders struggled to contain ongoing outbreaks of COVID-19 within state institutions.

And the number of people incarcerated is set to drop even further after a recent settlement agreement between the state and a group of civil rights advocates, who argued the prison leaders weren’t doing enough to protect inmates in crowded prisons from the virus.

For the last several years, the gap between what parents owed in child support and what was paid out has largely remained steady in North Carolina.

But in 2020, the pandemic changed that too.

Demand shifts for food stamps, foster care

The complex nature of the pandemic means that its toll has shown up differently across many of the state’s basic social services.

After years of steady reduction since the Great Recession in the number of families using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, the economic hardship of the coronavirus pushed the numbers right back up again.

The number of children entering the state’s foster care system, meanwhile, has plunged, even as experts fear children are dealing with more abuse and neglect amid the additional stressors of COVID-19.

Experts say the decline in children entering foster care is driven largely by the lack of in-person instruction, where teachers and school staff might recognize the signs of trouble at home.

“Schools are a safety net,” said Lisa Cauley, deputy director of Child Welfare Services for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Service, told The News & Observer in late 2020. “It’s not just that they make a report. It’s that teachers, guidance counselors, they care.”

Travel shifts closer to home

As businesses went remote and drivers across the country heeded public health warnings to stay home, the price to fill up your tank slumped in North Carolina and elsewhere.

And gas prices remained historically low through the end of December.

As for the change in North Carolina’s driving habits, the decline was significant.

In 2017, residents logged about 120 billion miles on the state’s roads and highways, a figure that’s increased a little each year.

But in 2020, we collectively drove an estimated 10.6 billion fewer miles than we did just three years prior. That comes out to about 1,400 miles for every one of North Carolina’s 7.3 million licensed drivers.

Yet even as drivers stuck closer to home, they did find ways to embrace outdoor destinations.

After an initial post-pandemic slump, visits to state parks across North Carolina skyrocketed to record levels over the summer of 2020, sustaining those trips into the fall.

Liquor sales, outdoor activity see boom

The bars may have been closed, but North Carolinians didn’t stop drinking.

Mixed-beverage sales — of liquor and fortified wine to restaurants and bars — fell significantly after pandemic restrictions went into effect. But those receipts were more than offset by the uptick in retail sales to customers at the state’s ABC stores, which broke $1 billion in 2020.

But the state’s changing leisure habits weren’t limited to booze.

More North Carolinians sought solace in nature, pushing the number of new hunting licenses to nearly 50,000 in September 2020.

Fishing too, saw a spike, as more residents purchased licenses in the spring and summer of 2020.