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NC Coronavirus:COVID-19 cases in universities contribute to spikes in county totals-ABC 11 Raleigh-Durham <br /> the state--just a 5% increase between September 2 and <br /> September 9. <br /> McGee said the county is still in contact with UNC <br /> officials and is hosting a weekly testing event in Chapel <br /> Hill. Furthermore, the university began voluntary daily <br /> testing for students without COVID-19 symptoms this <br /> week at the Campus Health to preemptively identify <br /> cases in residence halls. In a statement, UNC Provost <br /> Robert A. Blouin said a similar program will be set up <br /> of students who live off-campus in the next few weeks. <br /> "We just want to keep those numbers driving down," <br /> McGee said. <br /> Wake County and Pitt County, home to North Carolina <br /> State University and East Carolina University <br /> respectively, also saw similar spikes in cases in August. <br /> For comparison, Johnston County, which has no major <br /> universities, did not have a spike in cases in August. <br /> In Wake County, the number of new cases added each <br /> week had been decreasing in early August. However, <br /> by August 26--two weeks after NC State students <br /> started classes, the county reported more than 1,200 <br /> new cases, compared to 744 the week before. <br /> "As we saw the spike, we began to identify cases and <br /> follow our proper procedures and doing the <br /> assessments on them and monitoring and isolating for <br /> those cases," said Dr. Nicole Mushonga, a <br /> representative for the Wake County Health <br /> Department. <br /> Though the spike in cases at NC State didn't have the <br /> https://abcl I.com/nc-coronavirus-cases-covid-19-unc/6419029/[9/15/20, 10:58:16 AM] <br />