‘Devastating milestone’ repeats. NC has 5,000+ new COVID-19 cases for 2nd day in row.
North Carolina reported an additional 5,303 COVID-19 cases Friday, the second day in a row that the state has surpassed 5,000 new daily cases.
There have now been 382,534 cases statewide since the pandemic began in March.
North Carolina shattered its previous record by over 1,000 Thursday when it reported 5,637 additional COVID-19 cases. The state set its previous record Nov. 22, when the Department of Health and Human Services reported 4,514 cases in one day.
“Today we hit another devastating milestone,” DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said during a news conference Thursday. “This is alarming. ... I am very worried.”
The positive test rate has continued to climb, too.
DHHS reports that 11.2% of tests were positive Wednesday, the most recent date for which data is available. State heath officials want to see a 5% positivity rate.
The rate reached 10% over the weekend and has remained above that number since. Last week, it hovered between 7% and 9%.
The state reported 5,467 deaths Friday, an additional 57 from Thursday.
Cohen said the numbers reflect the spread of coronavirus over Thanksgiving, as people gathered more.
“You need to take precautions as if everyone around you has it,” Cohen said at the news conference.
Strain on hospitals, nurses
Health officials are reporting a steady increase in hospitalizations. The state reported Friday that 2,157 people are currently hospitalized, 56 more than Thursday.
Dennis Taylor, president of the N.C. Nurses Association, said the stress among nurses is as high as it was in the first couple of months of the pandemic.
“Folks are being asked to work more and sometimes to work in areas in which they may not traditionally work,” Taylor said. “It’s asking them to step into a very-high-risk situation, and there’s still a lot of concern about being able to take care of their own personal family, too.”
Taylor said that his biggest concern is not a shortage of hospital beds, but shortage of staff.
DHHS currently reports 4,751 empty, staffed inpatient hospital beds statewide, and 412 empty, staffed ICU beds. But Taylor says these numbers don’t always accurately reflect staff schedules and availability.
Hospitals are already under additional strain during the last months of the year as more patients pursue elective surgeries before annual insurance plans expire, he added.
“It looks like the capacity is there to be able to take on more, but in reality we don’t have the staff,” he said.
The nurses association is encouraging its retired members to assist with COVID-19 patients and to assist with vaccinations, when they are available.
Vaccine plan
COVID-19 vaccines could arrive as soon as mid-December for high-priority health care workers, Cohen said. North Carolina will likely receive the vaccine developed by Pfizer once it receives approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
It will take several months to build up enough supply for the rest of the population, Cohen said.
The first round of vaccines will go to health care workers and staff who work with COVID-19 patients. The second will go to people who work in long-term care facilities. By early next year, health officials say there may be enough vaccines to begin vaccinating adults with two or more high-risk conditions.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 12:37 PM.
