NC COVID-19 hospitalizations at a two-month high. Number of new cases dropped Monday.

North Carolina added 1,276 new COVID-19 cases Monday, a drop from the 1,719 reported Sunday.

New daily cases in the state had routinely numbered greater than 2,000 this month, reaching peaks not seen since July.

With Monday’s new cases, 232,747 people have contracted the coronavirus in North Carolina since March, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. The official number is likely an undercount because tests were rationed early in the pandemic.

DHHS reported Monday afternoon that 206,471 people are presumed recovered from COVID-19 symptoms. The estimate is based on when people tested positive and whether or not they were hospitalized.

On Sunday, 1,109 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized, with 96% of hospitals reporting. Sunday’s COVID-19 hospitalizations are the most since early August.

Hospitals reported treating more than 1,000 people with COVID-19 as inpatients each day since Oct. 6.

DHHS says the information on its data dashboard, including hospitalization data, is preliminary and subject to revision.

The state on Monday reported three more deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the total to 3,773 since the first two in March.

About 3.4 million coronavirus tests have been completed for North Carolinians.

On Saturday, 6% of coronavirus tests were positive, up from 5.5% on Friday and higher than the 5% positivity rate that state officials want.

This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 1:08 PM.