COVID cases on the rise in nearly every Mecklenburg County neighboorhood

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Coronavirus cases are back on the rise in the Charlotte area, according to new data from Mecklenburg County Public Health Department.

The county numbers were declining progressively for a few months but the rate of coronavirus cases is on the rise in nearly every Mecklenburg County neighborhood, The Charlotte Observer reports.

Health officials say the rising trend comes as vaccines are successfully slowing hospitalizations and deaths but the positivity rate of COVID-19 testing in Mecklenburg is rising.

The most recent COVID-19 case rate data by ZIP code is only shown or active, infections detected by coronavirus testing, and factors in population to show where cases are most concentrated. Mecklenburg Public Health releases ZIP code-level data weekly and the rate is based on a 14-day average.

The latest countywide rate is 282.2 new cases per 100,000 residents, based on positive coronavirus test results from March 18 to March 31. The rate from the first few weeks of March was 210.6, according to county officials. However, Mecklenburg’s infection rates have improved greatly since a winter surge. Two months ago, the rate was nearly 800 cases per 100,000 residents.

In all but three Mecklenburg ZIP codes, the rate increased towards the end of March, compared to earlier in the month.

ZIP code 28202, uptown area had the highest mass of COVID-19 cases in the county’s most recent data release, with 661.6 cases per 100,000 residents. The next highest was 28204, Cherry and Elizabeth, 28203, South End and parts of Dilworth and 28214, north of the airport, and to the west, along the Catawba River and the Gaston County line, in that order.

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Uptown and surrounding ZIP codes 28204 and 28203 have consistently had some of the highest flock of cases in Mecklenburg and saw some of the county’s largest rate increases in recent weeks.

Residents of ZIP code 28214, 28209, around Freedom Park and Woodlawn Road and 28207, along Providence Road, including and around Queens University of CHarlotte also saw significant increases during late March.

The lowest group of new cases in the county was in south Charlotte, also around South Tryon Street and parts of Park Road, and in Matthews.