North Carolina’s new COVID-19 cases hover close to record high
North Carolina broke a record Thursday for new daily coronavirus cases, reporting 2,885 new cases. The state reported nearly the same number of new cases Friday: 2,809.
That brings the running total of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 271,830 statewide since the start of the pandemic, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
This is the fourth straight day that new cases topped 2,000. Daily numbers have trended consistently high in recent weeks.
The percentage of positive tests has dropped slightly over the course of the week. On Sunday, the state reported that 7.5% of tests were positive. The state reports that 6.2% of tests were positive on Wednesday, the most recent day for which data is available. That’s still higher than the 5% positive rate that health officials have said they want.
The number of hospitalized patients was reported at 1,196 on Friday. That’s a slight increase from the 1,179 people reported as being hospitalized Wednesday. But the number is still less than it was earlier this week when the state reported its second-highest totals for hospitalized patients since the pandemic began: 1,214 people.
There have been 4,332 deaths, an increase of 49.
DHHS advises that data is preliminary and is frequently updated as it is reported to the health department.
