17,000 people have died due to COVID-19 in North Carolina
Nineteen months into the coronavirus pandemic, 17,019 people in North Carolina have died due to COVID-19, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported Thursday.
Since the start of August, 3,172 have died, nearly one-fifth of all COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic started in North Carolina in March 2020, The News & Observer reported.
In all of June and July combined, 385 North Carolinians died due to the virus.
The spike in deaths is due to the delta variant, a mutation of the coronavirus that’s more than twice as contagious as the original strain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The latest CDC data show that more than 97% of sequenced virus in North Carolina is delta.
The vaccine is the best protection against severe COVID-19.
A DHHS study frome late August found that those unvaccinated are more than four times as likely to contract COVID-19 and 15 times more likely to die from the disease, the N&O reported.
And those reinfected after contracting COVID-19 months prior, obtaining natural immunity for a time, were more likely to be unvaccinated.
In a population sample taken from March 2020 to last month, there were 10,812 reinfections. Of those, just 200 were vaccinated.
As of Thursday, 54% of all North Carolinians and 63% of those eligible for the shot, age 12 and up, are fully vaccinated. Nationally, those rates are 56% and 66% respectively.
Over the course of the pandemic, 704,233 Americans, including 17,019 North Carolinians, have died due to COVID-19.
New cases and hospitalizations continue to go down
DHHS reported 3,781 new cases Thursday, bringing the daily average over the last week to under 3,700. A week ago that rate was over 4,600, and a month ago it was nearly 7,000.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID statewide dropped to 2,514, down from the delta peak of 3,815 about a month ago. Those needing intensive care fell below 700 for first time since mid-August.
ICU patients hit a pandemic peak of 955 in late August.
Among the tests reported Tuesday, the latest data available, 6.4% returned positive. Over the last week prior to Tuesday, 7.7% returned positive per day.
State health officials want that rate at 5% or less. It’s dropped from the 11.5% reported a month ago.
COVID-19 metrics reported by DHHS each day are preliminary and subject to change as more information becomes available.