Increase of coronavirus cases in the Triangle being driven by clusters, cases at colleges
The rapid rise in COVID-19 cases at large universities has contributed to recent reported case increases in Triangle counties.
Daily reports of new coronavirus cases had been trending down in Wake County for about a month before the seven-day rolling average began to spike on Aug. 18, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. N.C. State University in Raleigh started its fall semester about a week earlier, on Aug. 10.
Some in that wave of infections showed up in Wake County’s COVID-19 case numbers. Wake had 1,200 new COVID-19 cases reported over the last seven days, a 101% increase over the previous seven days.
On Wednesday, N.C. State University said it was closing on-campus housing to most students because of the rapid rise in positive tests in students living on and off campus. Students are to begin moving out Thursday. A few days ago, the university moved all undergraduate classes online.
Orange County’s rise in coronavirus cases tied to UNC
In Orange County, home to UNC-Chapel Hill, new cases in the last seven days totaled 528, a 162% increase over the previous seven days. On Aug. 20, Orange County reported 88 new cases, the highest daily count since the pandemic started in March. Last week, UNC-Chapel Hill announced a return to all remote classes for undergraduates, and asked most students living in on-campus dorms to return to their permanent addresses.
Before the semester started, the Orange County Health Department director, foreseeing a potential increase in cases among students, asked UNC-Chapel Hill administrators to hold all classes online for at least the first five weeks of the fall semester and limit on-campus housing to at-risk students.
At a press conference Wednesday, Dr. Mandy Cohen, state DHHS secretary, said the state’s latest coronavirus clusters came from “university settings.” Most were off-campus, she said, but some were linked to on-campus dorms.
“We know that congregate living settings are more likely to spread this virus,” she said. “We did see stability in the last couple of days in new cases.”
Coronavirus outbreaks at congregate living facilities
On Tuesday, DHHS reported two new coronavirus outbreaks in areas nursing homes. Eight staff members and one resident at the Durham VA care center tested positive. Three staff members and one resident tested positive at Carol Woods in Chapel Hill.
The number Wake County jail inmates testing positive dropped to five from the 24 reported last week.
This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 11:19 AM with the headline "Increase of coronavirus cases in the Triangle being driven by clusters, cases at colleges."