11,288 Dead In NC One Year After First COVID-19 Case Reported

NORTH CAROLINA — One year ago today, North Carolina reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19.

In the span of 365 days, coronavirus' toll in North Carolina has led to the infection of more than 863,000 residents and claimed the lives of more than 11,000.

On March 3, 2020, however, the patient count was one, after a person in Wake County who had visited a long-term care facility at the center of an outbreak in Washington state became the state's first confirmed case of COVID-19. At the time of the presumptive positive test result, the patient was in isolation at their home and was doing well.

That wasn't the outcome playing out in elsewhere, however. The virus' footprint was growing in the U.S. and around the world, with a dozen COVID-19 deaths reported in Washington state, and about 3,200 lives reported lost to the virus around the world.

"I know that people are worried about this virus, and I want to assure North Carolinians our state is prepared," Gov. Roy Cooper, said at the time, WCNC reported. Cooper would go on to declare a state of emergency one week later, on March 10, a move that closed down schools across the state and limited occupancy in bars and restaurants.

Here in North Carolina, the grim reality of COVID deaths would not emerge until three weeks later.

On March 24, 2020, the first coronavirus death in the state was reported when a Cabarrus County resident in their late seventies and with several underlying health conditions, died due to complications from COVID-19, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said. At the time of the announcement, DHHS said a second person — a Virginia resident in their sixties traveling through the state — also died from COVID-19 complications.

"This is a stark warning that for some people COVID-19 is a serious illness," Cooper said in announcing the deaths. "All of us must do our part to stop the spread by staying at home as much as possible and practicing social distancing."

Three weeks in, and the state's one case had grown to 512. Waffle Houses — whose operations have long been touted as an indicator of the severity of emergencies during hurricanes — began shutting their doors in North Carolina, as well as throughout the southeast, moving the Waffle House Index into the red zone.

Concern turned to hospital capacity, closing businesses, economic fallout and the scarcity of face masks. By June 24, the state became the 18th in the country to introduce a mandatory mask mandate, which remains in effect today. By the time the mandate was in place, more than 1,300 state residents had died from COVID-19.

And since that time, not much has been left untouched by the effects of COVID-19, from canceled trips and an upended school year, to how we work, eat meals out and shop.

This week, as public health workers around the state race to get vaccine into the arms of residents, the number of COVID dead in the state had risen to 11,288.

A new chapter is emerging in the state.

At least 2.5 million doses of vaccine had been administered in North Carolina as of March 1, according to DHHS, and the availability of a third vaccine in the state prompted public health officials to accelerate vaccination eligibility. Wednesday North Carolina readied to receive the shipment of more than 80,000 doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

"A third life-saving vaccine and progress on our key metrics are reasons to feel hopeful," Cooper said Wednesday morning, citing a lesson learned in the past year: "But progress can be fragile, and we need to continue taking precautions to slow the spread."

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