NC adds another 1,110 cases to coronavirus total but reports 40 new deaths

North Carolina saw its coronavirus case total rise by more than 1,100 cases Wednesday, a smaller daily one-day case increase than in the past month, but the pandemic’s death toll rose by another 40 people.

The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 129,288 confirmed cases of COVID-19, up 1,127 from Tuesday’s total.

That number falls well short of the state’s record for new cases in a single day, which was set July 18 with 2,481 cases. In the last half of July, the daily total increased by more than 2,000 cases seven times.

The latest 40 fatalities brings North Carolina’s death count from COVID-19 to 2,050, having passed 2,000 this week.

The updated totals come as Gov. Roy Cooper announced that Phase Two of the state’s reopening plan will be extended until at least Sept. 11. The state has been in Phase 2 while the number of cases, deaths and hospitalizations remain high. The current executive order was set to expire Friday.

“As I said last week,” Cooper said during Thurday’s press conference, “stable is good, but decreasing is better. And while we are seeing stabilization of our numbers, that doesn’t mean we can let up. You only have to look at hospitals in other states that have been overwhelmed when reopening occurred too fast.”

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients in state hospitals rose to 1,167 Wednesday, up 13 across the state. (The state originally reported 1,166 people hospitalized Tuesday.) While higher than on Tuesday, hospitalizations stand below their level last week, when the total passed 1,200.

With 93% of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS showed 552 intensive-care beds empty and 5,531 available inpatient beds, fewer than on Tuesday.

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

This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 1:00 PM.

Josh Shaffer

The News & Observer

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Josh Shaffer is a general assignment reporter on the watch for “talkers,” which are stories you might discuss around a water cooler. He has worked for The News & Observer since 2004 and writes a column about unusual people and places.