3 NC Medical Universities Tapped To Track Coronavirus In State

NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina has tapped three medical universities in the state to help public health officials chart the spread of novel coronavirus throughout the state — a detail Gov. Roy Cooper says is vital before the state can ease restrictions.

"Today we announce a partnership with three of our state’s medical universities to use testing and tracing to help us determine how far the disease has spread in the state," Cooper said during a news conference Friday. "This is part of a coordinated statewide effort to better understand the true number of COVID-19 infections."

Friday morning, state officials said there were 5,859 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19. At least 152 deaths throughout the state are now attributed to the new coronavirus, according to the NC Department of Health and Human Services.

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Coronavirus fatalities have more than doubled in the past seven days in the state. One week ago, there were 3,908 confirmed cases, and 74 coronavirus-related deaths reported in North Carolina.

To date, 13 labs in North Carolina have conducted more than 73,000 COVID-19 tests. In the last two weeks, testing has increased by 88 percent, Cooper said.

Testing plays a critical role in determining the path forward for the state, but is currently being hampered by a lack of assistance from the federal level, he added.

"The President has left the responsibility to me as Governor to make decisions about how and when we ease restrictions in our state. I accept that," Cooper said. "But when we’re faced with global supply chain breakdowns when it comes to supplies and equipment, the federal government must help more."

Cooper is facing mounting pressure from the state's small business community to relax restrictions and reopen the state. Earlier this week, more than 100 protesters rallied in Raleigh, honking car horns and calling the current stay-at-home executive order unconstitutional.

Cooper has said restrictions would relax once the state trends start to go down, and said Friday officials were looking a number of options, including possibly easing restrictions in certain regions of the state. Earlier this week, Cooper said decisions regarding new social distancing executive orders for the state will be made at the end of April, and that his intention is to reopen the state's economy incrementally based on progress in COVID-19 testing, tracing and seeing overall trends move in the right direction.

Without an extension of social distancing policies set to expire at the end of April, North Carolina hospitals face an increased likelihood that their ability to provide acute care needed for coronavirus patients will be outstripped, perhaps as soon as Memorial Day, a team of epidemiologists told state health officials recently.

Without the restrictions, North Carolina medical facilities would now likely be overrun, Cooper said.

"I want very much for us to be able to ease restrictions as quickly as we can, but we have to keep public safety at the forefront," he said.

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