More than 9,000 people estimated to have recovered from coronavirus in NC
More than 9,000 people in North Carolina are believed to have recovered from the coronavirus, Mandy Cohen, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said Monday.
Cohen, in an online news conference, said the statistics on recoveries would now be included in the data reports provided by DHHS on its web site at covid19.ncdhhs.gov.
The first set of data was posted Monday and said an estimated 9,115 patients are “presumed to be recovered” from COVID-19. That’s in contrast to the 550 people who have died of the virus out of the more than 15,000 who have tested positive.
That would leave a little more than 5,500 people estimated to still have COVID-19. That doesn’t necessarily represent the number of people who are infectious.
Dozens of counties have been reporting recovery figures, but not all of them. The North Carolina General Assembly required DHHS to provide recovery rates as part of the legislation it passed at the beginning of this month in response to the pandemic.
“This is the first step today of putting the numbers out related to recovery,” Cohen said. “This was our first step in trying to give folks our best estimate here based on what we know about the virus and about recovery times in various populations.”
What does recovered mean?
It can be difficult to judge recovery as some people with COVID-19 have minimal or no symptoms.
Cohen said the state is estimating the median recovery time for those not hospitalized as 14 days, and 28 days for those who required hospitalization. She said the time intervals were chosen based on World Health Organization’s guidance and in consultation with the CDC and other state health departments.
Cohen stressed that the number of people who have “presumed to be recovered” was an estimate, not an exact total. The data will be updated each Monday by 4 p.m.
“We know this is something people have been asking for,” Cohen said. “This is our best attempt at it ... to give folks some sense of what’s happening here in North Carolina. If there’s new information we get we may have to change the way we calculate this. But at least we’re trying to give folks a picture of what this number really means at this point and that it could change in the future if we see other information that we learn about this virus or get guidance from CDC.
DHHS reported Monday that more than 195,000 tests for coronavirus had been completed and more than 15,000 had come back positive — about 7.7% — in 99 counties.
DHHS said the estimates could not take into account other factors that could affect a patient’s recovery time such as disease, age and underlying health conditions. Nor do the estimates measure immunity to to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Cohen also said the DHHS web site should soon have a list of all locations in the state where people can be tested for COVID-19. Cohen said anyone with symptoms or who has had exposure to someone who has had the virus should receive a test.
This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 4:23 PM.
