North Carolina passes 3,000 coronavirus deaths in six months of the pandemic

New lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases increased Friday in North Carolina, on a day when the state reported the disease has cost more than 3,000 lives.

The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 1,532 new COVID-19 cases Friday, up from the 1,222 new cases reported Thursday. The official count of coronavirus infections in the state since March is 182,286, though that is likely an undercount because tests were rationed early in the pandemic.

DHHS reported 33 additional COVID-19 deaths Friday, bringing the total to 3,023. Not all 33 deaths occurred on the same day. The state counts them as they are reported.

The first two coronavirus deaths were reported March 26, with the state passing the 2,000 mark on Aug. 4. Over the past five weeks, the state added more than 1,000 new deaths.

By contrast, DHHS reported 186 flu deaths in the 2019-20 season. As another flu season collides with the coronavirus pandemic, doctors are worried about the viruses circulating at the same time, The News & Observer reported. Doctors say the best way to prevent getting the flu is to get vaccinated.

At a news conference Thursday, Dr. Mandy Cohen, DHHS secretary, said the spread of the coronavirus in North Carolina is still too high.

“We are simmering,” she said. “We have a high level of viral spread, and we need to get that down, so we can make progress in opening other businesses. We can make progress on further easing of restrictions.”

A White House coronavirus task force report dated Sunday and sent to the nation’s governors said North Carolina was in the “red zone” for new cases last week, with more than 100 new cases for every 100,000 people, The News & Observer reported.

Cohen said Thursday the state has plateaued at a “stubbornly high rate” but can make progress by loosening restrictions slowly, requiring masks and asking people to social distance.

Gyms, playgrounds, museums and other attractions were allowed to reopen last week at limited occupancy and with health safety measures, as part of Gov. Roy Cooper’s Phase 2.5 of loosened restriction on businesses and leisure activities. Bars remain closed.

On Wednesday, 5.3% of coronavirus tests were positive, closer to the level of 5% or lower that health officials want. The percent positive on Tuesday was 6.4%, DHHS reported.

At a press conference Thursday, Cohen was asked to respond to comments President Donald Trump made to The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward earlier this year about his knowledge of the gravity of the pandemic, and whether having that information would have affected North Carolina’s response to the pandemic.

In recordings of interviews, Trump is heard saying on Feb. 7 that the virus is “deadly stuff.” In a March 19 interview, Trump said he wanted to “play it down,” referring to the pandemic, because he didn’t want to cause a panic, The Washington Post reported.

Cohen said the state started preparing before the virus “even had a name.” She stressed that North Carolina took precautions early in the pandemic, allowing the state to fare better than the rest of the Southeast.

Hospitals reported 938 COVID-19 inpatients on Thursday, with 93% of hospitals reporting.

DHHS says on its dashboard that a problem getting information from hospitals resulted in reporting errors from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8. The agency has corrected the information.

Some of the changes were small. The hospitalization information was off by one patient on Sept. 3. On other days, undercounts were larger. On Sept. 6, for example, there were 901 patients with COVID-19 in hospitals, 145 more than the 756 originally reported.

DHHS says all its data, including hospitalizations, is preliminary and subject to change.

This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 2:00 PM.