COVID-19 hospitalizations in NC highest in more than a month
A processing delay in COVID-19 information resulted in North Carolina reporting more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases for the third time this month.
But the data doesn’t necessarily reflect 2,000 people diagnosed with the coronavirus in one day.
Sunday, the state Department of Health and Human Services said not all data was processed Sunday because of a technical problem, according to a note on the data dashboard. The state reported just 610 cases Sunday.
The unreported Sunday cases were rolled into Monday’s case count for a one-day total of 2,258.
North Carolina has had 219,754 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic started in March.
The state Department of Health and Human Services reported three additional COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total to 3,637 since the first two in March.
Hospitals reported 971 people with COVID-19 getting treatment as inpatients on Sunday, with 92% of hospitals reporting.
DHHS says the information on its data dashboard, including its hospitalization data, is preliminary and subject to revisions. The hospitalization report is frequently revised. But if the 971 patients holds true, this is highest number of patients with COVID-19 reported hospitalized since Aug. 25. On Saturday, 902 people with COVID-19 were reported hospitalized, with 91% of hospitals reporting.
DHHS says it’s best to consider two-week trends to measure the response and impact of COVID-19, rather than focus on daily numbers.
Nearly 3.2 million coronavirus tests have been performed on North Carolina residents since March. For the tests performed Saturday, 6.4% were positive. State health officials seek a positivity rate of 5% or lower.
North Carolina started Phase 3 of loosened restrictions on businesses and leisure activities on Friday. Bars, movie theaters, outdoor amusement parks and conference centers are allowed to open with limited occupancy and other restrictions.
While some movie theaters are getting ready to reopen this week, Cineworld said it is closing all Regal movie theaters temporarily beginning Thursday. Regal opened 13 of its North Carolina theaters on Friday, The Charlotte Observer reported. Cineworld said it is closing theaters because movie studios have delayed releasing commercial films and because theaters in major markets, New York, for example, remain closed.
Meanwhile, the Town of Wake Forest has temporarily closed a fire station because one of the firefighters tested positive for COVID-19, The N&O reported.
A COVID-19 outbreak at the Clayton Fire Department led to two deaths, Jason Dean, deputy chief of operations and training, and Alison Michaud Vessie, wife of a part-time Clayton firefighter who also contracted COVID-19.