NC reports 1,222 new COVID-19 cases and 32 additional deaths; hospitalizations also rise
North Carolina had 1,222 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases Thursday, up from 897 reported Wednesday but still well below the peaks of more than 2,000 daily new cases reported in July and August.
With Thursday’s new cases, North Carolina now counts 180,754 confirmed coronavirus infections since the first was reported in March. The official total is likely an undercount because tests were rationed early in the pandemic.
The state Department of Health and Human Services estimates that more than 156,000 people are presumed recovered from COVID-19.
DHHS reports that 928 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized Wednesday, with 90% of hospitals reporting. That’s almost two dozen more patients reported hospitalized than the 905 reported on Tuesday, when 86% of the state’s 112 hospitals gave DHHS their information. DHHS says all its data, including hospitalizations, is preliminary and subject to change.
An additional 32 deaths attributed to COVID-19 were reported Thursday, bringing the state’s total to 2,990.
On Tuesday, 6.3% of tests were positive, higher than the 5% positive or lower that state health officials want. The positivity percentage has ranged between 6% and 7.7% since Aug. 12.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, met Wednesday with Gov. Roy Cooper and Dr. Mandy Cohen, DHHS secretary.
According to a summary of the meeting Cooper’s office provided, Cooper asked for more federal support for community-led testing and testing of staff in K-12 schools that have in-person learning, more funding for personal protective equipment, more money for child care programs, and other testing and support efforts.
A White House coronavirus task force report to the nation’s governors dated Sunday said North Carolina was in the “red zone” for cases last week, with more than 100 new cases per 100,000 people.
New cases in Mecklenburg, Wake and Pitt counties represented 24.5% of the new cases reported in the the state in the last three weeks, the task force report said.