University Reopenings Lead To Uptick In COVID-19 Spread In NC

NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina has seen a slight increase in coronavirus spread in the last two weeks, largely driven by the reopenings of colleges and universities around the state, the state's top public health official said Tuesday.

"We knew there would be some viral spread from the reopening," of colleges, universities and K-12 schools, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen said Tuesday. "What we're seeing is that spread of virus in social gatherings, parties, particularly ones that are off campus, as well as housing that is off campus," such as sororities, fraternities and other group houses.

COVID-19 has also spread through some athletic activities, she said.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for example, reported that its percent of positive coronavirus tests shot up from 13.6 percent to 31.3 percent last week, the first week of class. Of the 1,528 coronavirus tests administered between Aug. 17 and Aug. 23, 465 were confirmed positive, the Daily Tar Heel reported. The university has since pivoted away from in-person learning for remote instruction for all undergraduate students.

University of North Carolina at Charlotte announced that while it would still begin the fall term on Sept. 7, it would do so remotely and push in-person instruction back until Thursday, Oct. 1.

Cohen called on university leadership to use all the tools at their disposal, including student honor codes, to hold student's accountable, and said crowds and parties should be avoided, "whether you're in a university setting or not."

The uptick in community spread will have a bearing beyond campus, and could potentially thwart the reopening of some business, such as gyms, which have been closed since March. The earliest those businesses could potentially reopen is Sept. 11.

In order for that to happen, however, trends such as positivity rates and hospitalizations need to improve, she said. "As of last week, they started to tip in the wrong direction," Cohen said.

As of Tuesday, North Carolina had 157,741 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 2,570 deaths. As of Aug. 25, about 7.4 percent of tests in North Carolina were positive, the highest day reported in the past five days, according to DHHS data.

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