In upward trend, North Carolina sees third day of near-record COVID-19 case increases
A trend of higher daily COVID-19 cases continued Saturday as North Carolina reported a third straight day with more than 2,800 new coronavirus cases.
Saturday saw an increase of 2,805 new cases, roughly the same increase as the past three days, including a record-breaking number of new cases seen in a day.
The state’s total is up to 274,635 cases of people infected since March, when the virus was first reported in the state. 4,378 people have died from the coronavirus, the state Department of Health and Human Services reports.
The record-breaking number of 2,885 new cases was reported Thursday, which also saw a daily increase of 49 deaths, the highest in over a week. On Saturday, DHHS reported an additional 46 deaths.
Hospitalizations were reported to be at at 1,184, a slight drop from 1,196 on Friday. They have hovered around 1,200 mark for the past week.
Completed tests statewide reached 4,043,698, with daily testing around roughly 50,000.
Although higher than the state’s target of 5% positive rate for tests, which was seen earlier in the fall, the current positive rate for testing in North Carolina is at 6.1%, down from a high of 7.5%.
New clusters of COVID-19 cases are being reported by the state as the virus consistently trends higher into the fall. A cluster of 18 new cases were reported Friday at the Durham Urban Ministries homeless shelter, The News & Observer reported.
“With coronavirus cases spiking across our state, we are in the midst of an especially challenging time,” said Urban Ministries executive director Sheldon Mitchell.
Cases related to clusters in religious gatherings have spiked up recently, with those cases climbing to 1,180 as of Oct. 26, an increase of 140 from the week prior, according to a recently released report on clusters by the DHHS that is updated weekly.
At least 121 cases are traced to a Charlotte church’s gatherings, The Charlotte Observer reported, and religious gatherings like worship services continue despite the increased risk.
This story was originally published October 31, 2020 at 12:13 PM.
