Mecklenburg County on Friday reported a record low number of people hospitalized with COVID-19.
On Monday, just 35 people were in the hospital with the disease, according to the county’s latest data report. That’s the lowest since the county began reporting specific hospitalization numbers in late April 2020.
The Friday data report also showed an average test positivity rate in Mecklenburg County of 3.1% — a slight increase from the previous two-week average but still below the 5% target set by North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services.
In June, the daily COVID-19 patient census at all but two of Novant Health’s hospitals had dropped to less than 10, according to Dr. David Priest, an infectious disease physician at the health care system. Priest said Charlotte’s Presbyterian Medical Center was among the hospitals reporting single-digit numbers.
“Almost all of the patients who are being admitted to our hospitals with COVID have not been vaccinated," Priest told reporters during a news conference June 15.
COVID-19 trends in Mecklenburg County and across North Carolina have been more or less steadily declining over the past couple of months. Health officials have said that’s partly because more residents have been vaccinated or already had COVID-19.
But just over half of Mecklenburg County’s population remains unvaccinated. According to data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, 45% of the county’s population is fully vaccinated and 49% has received at least one dose.
