North Carolina coronavirus cases top 114,000 with more than 92,000 recoveries

Reported coronavirus infections in North Carolina increased by 1,625 Monday, bringing the total to 114,338 cases in the state since the first case in March.

The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 1,790 total deaths from COVID-19, up five from Sunday.

DHHS estimated Monday that 92,302 people in the state are presumed recovered from COVID-19. The estimate is based on when people were tested and whether or not they were hospitalized.

Health officials report 1,169 people with COVID-19 hospitalized in the state on Sunday, with 86% of hospitals reporting. North Carolina has reported more than 1,000 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 every day since July 5.

DHHS says its COVID-19 data, including hospitalizations, is preliminary and subject to revision.

The number of new cases reported Monday was nearly identical to the 1,621 reported Sunday, and the number of patients reported hospitalized remained largely unchanged, dropping by one.

Wake County has recorded more than 10,000 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases. Wake added 128 new cases Monday, bringing its total to 10,119.

Durham County cases increased by 48, to 5,535. Cases in Orange County increased by 22, to 1,219.

DHHS announced 39 additional temporary coronavirus testing sites Monday that are part of the state effort to increase testing in Black, Latino, and Native American communities.

The testing locations are in Bladen, Duplin, Johnston, Edgecombe, Henderson, Hertford, Northampton, Randolph, Robeson, Sampson and Warren counties. The tests are free. The state maintains an updated list of locations. State officials urge tests for people from historically marginalized communities who may have been exposed to the coronavirus, even if they don’t have symptoms.

Latino residents are less than 10% of North Carolina’s population, but make up 42% of its coronavirus cases where race and ethnicity are known. Black residents are 22% of the state’s population, but account for 32% of its COVID-19 deaths.

Two prisoners from Albemarle Correctional Institute died from COVID-19 last week, bringing the total dead from COVID-19 at that prison to three, The Charlotte Observer reported. Eight deaths across the prison system have been attributed to COVID-19.

Following a state Superior Court ruling, state prison officials announced in late June that every inmate would be tested for the coronavirus. The prison system reported Sunday afternoon that 24,270 inmates had been tested, and 1,389 tested positive.

As of Sunday afternoon, the prison system reported 200 inmates at Lumberton Correctional Institution tested positive for the coronavirus, up from nine reported Thursday. The Lumberton prison had tested 638 inmates as of Sunday, up from 34 Thursday.

The newly reported cases make the Lumberton prison the site of one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the state system, behind Neuse Correctional Institution in Goldsboro, which had 466 positive cases as of Sunday afternoon, and the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women, which had 232 cases.

Staff writer Ames Alexander of The Charlotte Observer contributed.

This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 1:00 PM.