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See the latest news and updates about COVID-19 and its impact on the Charlotte region, the Carolinas and beyond.

Mecklenburg Plans To Test 55K More Residents For Coronavirus

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Mecklenburg County plans to test an additional 5% of its population -- about 55,000 more people -- for the coronavirus over the next 30 days, under a plan announced Thursday by county Public Health Director Gibbie Harris.

That’s in addition to the 36,000 people who have already gotten tests, Harris said.

“That is roughly 1,850 tests per day,” Harris said. “We’ve actually reached and even exceeded that target for the last two days based on the hospital systems' testing. So we think we’re in pretty good shape to move forward with this strategy."

She said the additional testing will be phased in in three priority groups.

Group 1 includes people with moderate to severe coronavirus symptoms, health care workers, first responders, people who live or work in nursing homes or other congregant settings, people over the age of 65 and those with underlying health conditions. 

Group 2 includes, among others, those with mild coronavirus symptoms, including children and certain asymptomatic people. The third group will include people “who support critical infrastructure,” though Harris did not specify what that means. 

Harris said increasing testing is critical during North Carolina’s three-phase reopening plan.

“So that we can track infections, isolate the infected and quarantine those that are exposed. This is the only way that we’re going to continue to keep this under control,” she said. 

As of noon Thursday, the county had about 1,930 confirmed coronavirus cases.

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Claire Donnelly is WFAE's health reporter. She previously worked at NPR member station KGOU in Oklahoma and also interned at WBEZ in Chicago and WAMU in Washington, D.C. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and attended college at the University of Virginia, where she majored in Comparative Literature and Spanish. Claire is originally from Richmond, Virginia. Reach her at cdonnelly@wfae.org or on Twitter @donnellyclairee.