NC reports second straight day of record-high COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations climb
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported 19,174 new COVID-19 cases Friday — the second straight day of record high numbers.
On Thursday, the state reported 18,571 new cases.
Both of those numbers are likely lower than the actual number of new cases in the state, DHHS says, because at-home tests are not reported to the state.
Before Thursday, the most new cases reported in a single day was in January when 11,581 cases were recorded as part of a 2020 post-holiday surge.
The recent surge in cases is being driven by the omicron variant of the coronavirus, which experts say is far more contagious than previous versions.
And while the omicron variant seems to cause milder symptoms in people who are vaccinated than the delta variant, the number of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 in North Carolina still rose by more than 100 on Friday, to 2,387. That is almost double the 1,214 people who were hospitalized on Dec. 1.
WakeMed tweeted Thursday about the significant difference the omicron variant is having on unvaccinated people. Of the 90 people hospitalized at WakeMed with COVID-19 Thursday, all but 12 were not vaccinated.
All of the patients in intensive care and all of the patients on respirators were unvaccinated, WakeMed reported.
The state reported 27 additional coronavirus-related deaths on Friday. Health officials don’t specify the dates on which newly reported deaths occurred.
As of Friday, 19,426 people have died of COVID-19 in North Carolina since the first case was reported in March 2020.
The state reported Friday that 22.9% of tests were positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday, the most recent data available. That was up from 21.6% the previous day.
Both are more than four times higher than the 5% target that health officials say is a sign that the spread of the virus is slowing.
About 74% of adults in North Carolina have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and roughly 69% have been fully vaccinated. About 59% are fully vaccinated (out of the state’s total population), and roughly 63% have received at least one dose. State officials round vaccination numbers to the nearest whole number.
Over 1.68 million people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus since March 2020.
COVID-19 cases and deaths in Wake, Orange, Durham
Here are the total case and death counts by Triangle county as of Dec. 31, per NCDHHS:
Wake County: 156,133 cases and 920 deaths
Durham County: 40,033 cases and 269 deaths
Orange County: 13,918 cases and 112 deaths
Hayley Fowler, Simone Jasper and Ben Sessoms contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 31, 2021 at 1:30 PM.
