North Carolina reports over 1,000 new coronavirus cases; hospitalization numbers are down
North Carolina’s reported coronavirus total rose by more than 1,000 cases Sunday, bringing the number of cases statewide to 176,901.
North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services reported 2,890 deaths from COVID-19 in North Carolina Sunday, just one more than on Saturday.
The state’s positive COVID-19 testing rate, last updated Friday, was 6.1%.
Across the state, 2,442,950 tests have now been performed, according to DHHS.
NC DHHS includes average turnaround times for testing results to its online data dashboard. On Sunday, the average turnaround time was 1.9 days.
Hospitalization numbers down
DHHS reported 830 patients hospitalized statewide with 79% of hospitals reporting. The state’s hospitalization numbers have been steadily decreasing since peaking at over 1,200 in July. The numbers have been below 1,000 since Aug. 20.
This is despite a growing number of clusters among university students across the state.
As the News & Observer reported Sunday, doctors say that’s because young people are less likely to have the underlying health problems and are less likely to end up in the hospital.
In late May and early June, about 9% of reported cases statewide were among people age 18 to 24, according to DHHS. Now, that age group accounts for about 16% of cases.
