Huntersville COVID-19 Update: 5 Deaths, 210 New Cases This Week

HUNTERSVILLE, NC — The spread of coronavirus is declining slowly in Mecklenburg County, according to county health officials.

Friday morning, Mecklenburg County reported 88,594 known COVID-19 cases and 797 deaths, representing an increase of more than 4,100 new cases and 31 lives lost to the virus in the span of seven days.

In Huntersville, at least 4,634 cases and 43 COVID-19 deaths were confirmed as of Feb. 4, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services data. The tally represents an increase of at least 210 new cases and five deaths in Huntersville in a week.

According to county public health officials, this week an average of 10.5 percent of those tested for coronavirus in Mecklenburg County were positive, down from 11.9 percent reported last week. An average of 340 individuals were hospitalized in the country during the past week, down from 540 a day reported two weeks ago.

"Our numbers continue to decline slowly," Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said Wednesday. "We've seen decreases in the number of cases on average per day, a slight decrease in the number of hospitalizations on average per day, as well as a decrease in our positivity rate. Those are all great things."

As of Feb. 4, at least 69,119 first doses of vaccine had been administered in Mecklenburg County, and 16.954 individuals had completed their vaccination series, according to DHHS.

A new Federal distribution program implementing 300 Walgreens in North Carolina will also soon increase access to vaccines in Mecklenburg County, Harris said.

"The vaccine is not a huge amount but it's better than what we've been receiving," and is in addition to the vaccine amounts sent to healthcare systems and the county health department, she said.

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