NC Deploys New COVID-19 Testing Mandate For Nursing Homes

NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina will require all nursing home staff be tested for coronavirus every two weeks, the state's top public health official announced Friday.

As of Friday, more than 9,100 coronavirus cases in North Carolina have been confirmed at longterm care facilities in the state and at least 886 nursing home residents and 182 residential care facility patients have lost their lives to COVID-19, according to DHHS.

“North Carolina nursing home residents are among the most vulnerable to COVID-19 infection,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen said. “These additional testing and infection control resources enhance the ongoing work to guide and support long-term care facilities as they take extraordinary measures to protect residents and staff during COVID-19.”

The new testing mandate, which replaces what had previously been a recommendation for nursing home facilities, went into effect Aug. 7 and requires the biweekly staff testing through November. Testing will be paid for by federal CARES Act funding through November, Cohen said.

"Every COVID-19 infection that reaches a nursing home started somewhere else," she added.

Last month, NCDHHS conducted nearly 50,000 COVID-19 tests of nursing home residents and staff in order to create a baseline. Prior to the new testing mandate announced Friday, nursing homes were only required to conduct weekly testing if a COVID-19 test had been reported, the agency said.

North Carolina reported 132,812 COVID-19 cases Friday, including 1,545 cases confirmed since Thursday. The state also reported 42 new COVID-19 related deaths, increasing the virus death toll to 2,134.

As of Friday, 8 percent of testing overall in North Carolina was positive, down from 9 percent positivity reported the day before.

According to state public health officials, hospitalizations throughout the state are leveling. Friday 1,123 patients were hospitalized throughout the state with coronavirus illness, 24 fewer than were reported Thursday, according to DHHS data.

In the greater Charlotte metro region, 310 patients were hospitalized as of Friday, including 134 patients who were admitted since Thursday and suspected to have COVID-19, DHHS said. The hospitalizations left 87 empty staffed intensive care unit beds and 1,012 empty staffed inpatient hospital beds remaining in the 13-county region.

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An Aug. 7 survey of 90 percent of the state's hospitals reported that there were 5,253 empty staffed inpatient hospital beds and 581 empty staffed intensive care unit beds remaining in the state. Ventilators also remained in supply, according to the survey, with about 2,353 remaining available, DHHS said.

State officials announced Thursday that North Carolina's cumulative tally of COVID-19 cases included 619 offenders in North Carolina state prisons who tested positive. According to state prison officials, 2.1 percent of the state's 29,062 offenders had tested positive during a recent mass testing.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday announced the state will stay in Phase 2 of its reopening plan for five more weeks, meaning things like gyms, bars and movie theaters will not reopen until Sept. 11 at the earliest.

Cooper said new cases and deaths across the state are showing signs of stabilizing. His decision to extend the current reopening phase, he said, is to turn stable case numbers into declining numbers.

"As I said last week, stable is good, but decreasing is better," Cooper said. "And while we are seeing stabilization of our numbers, that doesn’t mean we can let up. You only have to look at hospitals in other states that have been overwhelmed when reopening occurred too fast."

Globally, more than 19 million people have been infected by COVID-19, and more than 716,000 people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Friday. In the United States, more than 4.9 million people have been infected and more than 160,000 people have died from COVID-19.

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