NC passes grim milestone: more than 4,000 COVID-related deaths. New cases climbing.

North Carolina crossed another grim threshold Wednesday, counting more than 4,000 COVID-19 related deaths since the coronavirus pandemic started.

The state reported Wednesday that 4,032 people have died from illnesses related to COVID-19, up 40 people from Tuesday.

Not all the reported fatalities are from a single day. The state Department of Health and Human Services reports them as they are verified.

COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to climb, with 1,219 people being treated as inpatients on Tuesday, up 16 from Monday.

DHHS counted 1,842 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, 264 more than were recorded Tuesday. The official count of COVID-19 cases stands at 250,592 since the pandemic started in March.

Positivity rate rises

On Monday, 7.4% of coronavirus tests were positive, higher than the 5% positivity rate state officials want.

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

DHHS on Wednesday started adding a report on coronavirus clusters to its data dashboard. A DHHS news release said the state has seen an increase in COVID-19 clusters in the past two weeks, with the virus spreading in social gatherings, weddings and funerals.

The first report shows cumulative clusters since April for meat and poultry process plants, and since May for other gatherings. The report does not give dates on when the clusters were identified.

Meat packing and poultry plants accounted for the most cluster-associated cases, 3,841, and deaths, 19. Universities had the second highest cluster-associated cases, with 1,902, but no deaths. Religious gatherings were third, with 1,040 cases and 13 deaths.

Local elected officials asked to act

With new cases rising, the state is asking county elected officials to consider actions such as adopting ordinances that would impose fines for violating COVID-19 executive orders, and allowing local health directors to issue imminent hazard abatement orders, DHHS said in a Wednesday news release.

Elected officials in the state’s three most populous counties, in counties that have had 300 new cases in the past 14 days and in those or that have had more than 50 cases for every 10,000 residents received letters from Dr. Mandy Cohen, DHHS secretary, and Erik Hooks, state Department of Public Safety secretary, the press release said.

This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 2:04 PM.