NC again tops 2,000 new coronavirus cases while hospitalizations dip slightly
North Carolina reported at least 2,000 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases Friday for the third time in the past week, while hospitalizations barely fell below Thursday’s all-time high.
The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 2,102 new lab-confirmed cases Friday, bringing the total since the COVID-19 pandemic began to 108,995.
The number of hospital patients with COVID-19 has remained above 1,000 since July 9, the News & Observer previously reported. That trend continued Friday with 1,182 patients.
Friday’s total is six hospital patients below Thursday’s all-time high.
The percent of positive COVID-19 tests has also been consistently higher than state officials want, with DHHS reporting a 9% positive rate in results it received Thursday. That is an uptick from Wednesday’s 8%. Dr. Mandy Cohen, the state’s DHHS secretary, wants to see the positive rate closer to 5%.
Health officials have not reached that targeted 5% positive rate of positive tests since May 11. The News & Observer previously reported that percent positives have typically hovered between 8 and 10% since Memorial Day.
State officials also added 20 new deaths to the statewide count on Friday, bringing COVID-19’s death toll to 1,746 in North Carolina. Friday’s newly reported deaths include five in Wake County, increasing the county total to 104 deaths since the pandemic started.
According to the News & Observer, the majority of Wake’s deaths happened during July and four out of every five people who died of the virus were at least 65 years old.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 12:27 PM.