NC counts its 8,000th COVID death as the pandemic continues to spread
North Carolina has surpassed 8,000 COVID-19 deaths as of Saturday with a total of 8,016 people lost to the illness or complications from it, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Saturday’s total included 83 new deaths, and 7,986 new cases of the novel coronavirus, a drop in new cases from recent days. Friday saw 8,914 new cases and Thursday’s total was 9,853 new cases.
North Carolina topped 7,000 COVID-19 deaths on Jan. 6, just 10 days ago.
There have been a total of 667,826 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The 7-day average for cases is 7,639, after six days of an average above 8,000 cases.
The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped slightly on Saturday to 3,895, from 3,955 on Friday, with 97% of hospitals reporting.
The state is still in the early stages of vaccinating residents against the spread of COVID-19. Though N.C. health officials moved the state into a new phase of vaccine eligibility last week to include all healthcare workers and anyone over 65, short supplies of vaccine continue to make it difficult to get appointments to get the shots.
The state has said it plans to hold large community vaccination events across the state as supplies of vaccine allow. More than 45,000 vaccines are expected to be given through these events, according to DHHS. Some sites will administer vaccines by appointment only. Like getting tested for the virus, getting inoculated against it also will be free.
Tuesday morning, the Wake County Public Health Department will launch a 24-hour vaccine hotline and an online tool through which people can get on a waiting list to get vaccinated. The county warns that, “Due to the limited supply of vaccine and given the large number of people in Groups 1 and 2, it’s likely to be several weeks to months before you are contacted for an appointment unless changes are made in supply allocations.”
The county says the vaccine will not be administered on a first-come, first-served basis; instead, priority will be determined by age and other risk factors.
The state continues to operate COVID testing sites. Saturday, nearly three dozen testing sites were open at health departments, community colleges, parks, churches and other sites from the mountains to the coast.
More than 7.9 million COVID tests have been conducted in North Carolina since the onset of the pandemic, including more than 60,000 on Friday. On Thursday, the last day for which the statistic is available, 11.8% of tests came back positive, according to the state. Health officials say the goal is a positive test rate of 5% or less.
During the first week of January, the positive test rate topped 17%. It has been trending down since.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 11:27 AM.
