NC COVID hospitalizations down slightly. That’s the good news.
Just two weeks into September, 438 people in North Carolina have died due to COVID-19, data from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services show.
That’s more deaths than recorded in all of June and July combined, when 376 people died from the virus.
September’s death toll is nearly on pace with August, when 1,098 died. It was the deadliest month of the pandemic since February, before vaccines were widely available.
DHHS concluded in a study last month that unvaccinated people are more than four times likely to catch COVID-19 and 15 times more likely to die from it compared to those who have had shots, The News & Observer reported.
As of Monday, 51% of all North Carolinians and 60% of those eligible for the shot, ages 12 and up, are fully vaccinated.
Nationally, those rates are 54% and 63% respectively.
Hospitalizations dip, but ICU patients remain high
DHHS reported that 3,690 people are hospitalized statewide with COVID-19 on Tuesday.
Over the last week, the state has reported a per day average of 3,755 people hospitalized.
That’s down slightly from the prior week’s average of 3,796.
But the number of patients requiring intensive care remains high. As of Tuesday, there 955 COVID-19 patients in ICUs statewide.
That’s ties a record high initially set on Aug. 29. It’s also about 26% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Overall hospitalizations are far higher than they were two months ago. On July 1, 396 people in North Carolina were hospitalized with COVID-19.
That rapid increase is due to the delta variant, a mutation more than twice as contagious as the original strain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among all sequenced virus in the state, over 97% is delta, the latest CDC data show.
As of Tuesday, 658,410 Americans, including 15,305 North Carolinians, have died due to COVID-19.
New cases decreasing
DHHS reported 4,760 new cases on Tuesday. Over the last week, the state has reported just over 6,500 new cases per day.
That’s down from a week ago, when that average was nearly 7,000.
Among the tests reported Sunday, the latest available data, 13% were positive. Over the last week of available data, 11.9% were positive per day. State health officials want that number to be 5% or lower.
COVID-19 data reported by DHHS are preliminary and subject to change as more information becomes available.