NC sees 83% more people hospitalized with COVID from two weeks ago due to delta surge
North Carolina reported 3,147 people hospitalized statewide with COVID-19 Friday, an 83% increase from two weeks ago.
It’s the most reported since late January, when the state was coming down from the pandemic peak of 3,990.
Since early July, hospitalizations have increased nearly eight times over.
The rapid increase is due to the delta variant, a mutation of the coronavirus that’s more than three times as contagious as the orginal strain. Over 86% of sequenced virus in North Carolina is delta, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About a quarter of people hospitalized, 760, are being treated in intensive care units, an increase of nearly 80% from two weeks ago and quadruple the number from a month ago.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported earlier this month that over 90% of people hospitalized are unvaccinated, and almost all patients in ICU have yet to receive a shot.
The average age of people hospitalized with COVID-19 is now 44, down from an average of 61 in January, according to the report.
As of Friday, 48% of all North Carolinians and 56% of those eligible, ages 12 and up, are fully vaccinated.
Among those ages 65 and up, 85% are fully vaccinated.
The state reported 6,631 new cases Friday, about the same number as last Friday. On the first Friday in July, the state reported 374 cases.
The daily average of new cases over seven days is now over 5,300 — 20 times more than the average in early July.
Among the tests reported Wednesday, the latest data available, 11.9% returned positive. Over the last week of available data, an average of 12.2% have returned positive per day. Health officials have said they want that rate at 5% or lower. Experts say a rate lower than 5% is an indication that the spread of the virus is slowing.
DHHS reported 54 additionial deaths due to the virus on Friday, but it didn’t specify the dates on which those deaths occurred.
Deaths from COVID-19 have increased each month this summer, and the average age of those dying is trending younger than January’s peak, The News & Observer reported.
As of Friday, 14,059 North Carolinians had died due to COVID-19.
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 1:32 PM.