Coronavirus cases climb in North Carolina while other states see their peaks
North Carolina is among the states that still haven’t seen a peak in coronavirus cases, data show.
States across the country have hit or are past their peaks in the number of new COVID-19 cases reported daily or in the number of deaths and hospitalizations, with the worst of the pandemic behind them, Business Insider reports. But in others, the outbreak is still “building” and the worst is yet to come.
The New York Times reported Thursday based on its database that North Carolina is among the 20 states and territories where new coronavirus cases are still increasing.
Thirteen states have had a decrease in new cases while the rest, including South Carolina, have stayed about the same recently, The New York Times data shows.
Data from the analysis site FiveThirtyEight also suggests North Carolina is among a minority of states that haven’t seen their peaks in cases yet.
The state is among 19 that “met or tied a new high” between April 15 and 22, FiveThirtyEight reports. The rest saw their peaks at various times in March and April.
New cases reported have been trending upward in North Carolina, according to data from The News & Observer.
The state had more than 10,600 reported cases as of Thursday afternoon, according to The N&O’s count, which includes cases reported by state and county health departments.
On Thursday, 561 new cases were reported, an all-time high of daily cases so far.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases reported has also been trending upward, with an average of 414 on Thursday, according to The N&O.
Many of the states that have already seen their peaks were hit sooner and harder with the coronavirus pandemic than those that have been slower, Business Insider reports.
In New York, the hardest hit state in the U.S., Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week it’s headed in the right direction and “on the other side of the plateau” in terms of death counts as social distancing measures are working to slow the spread of the virus, the Associated Press reports.
North Carolina reported its first case of the coronavirus on March 3, more than a month after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the first U.S. case was reported in mid-January.
While some states have started to ease restrictions in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus, North Carolina’s are still in place.
The statewide stay-at-home order is set to expire May 8. And while experts have said the peak is hard to predict, Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday at a news conference that he’s hopeful the state will be able to ease some restrictions then.
State officials are monitoring benchmarks it needs to meet to progress through a three-phase reopening plan.
A 14-day decrease in the percentage of positive tests and the number of coronavirus-like cases is required along with a decrease or “sustained leveling” of confirmed cases and hospitalizations, The News & Observer reports.
“We remain hopeful that the trends will be stable enough to move us into phase one next week,” Cooper said during Thursday’s news conference.
