NC reports over 100 daily COVID deaths for the fourth time in a week
North Carolina reported 107 more deaths due to COVID-19 on Wednesday. An average of 96 people died per day over the last week.
It’s the highest seven-day average of the pandemic, according to an analysis by The News & Observer of data from the state Department of Health and Human Services.
A week ago the average was 50, and a month ago it was 40.
Last week, the state reported 137 deaths on Wednesday and 115 on Thursday. Sunday saw the highest death count of the pandemic at 142.
As of Wednesday, 7,745 people have died due to the virus since the beginning of the pandemic in North Carolina.
At a press conference Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper blamed some deaths on leaders spreading disinformation about COVID-19.
“Words matter,” Cooper said. “People listen to leaders and often follow their calls and imitate their actions.
“More people could be alive today but for dangerous falsehoods that have been spread about the critical importance of masks, social distancing, and other common sense safety rules,” he said.
Record spike in COVID-19 cases
The increase in reported deaths comes after a record spike in cases just a few days ago. Last week saw three consecutive days of over 10,000 new cases reported: Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
DHHS reported 5,098 new cases on Wednesday. The seven-day average for daily new cases sits at 8,389.
Hospitalizations increased to 3,951, the second highest of the pandemic.
There were just over 2,000 people in the hospital statewide at the beginning of December.
Among the tests reported on Monday, the latest day with data available, 14.7% of tests returned positive. An average of 14% of tests per day have returned positive over the last week. That’s well above the 5% or lower that state health officials want.
Case and hospitalization data from DHHS are preliminary and subject to change upon further investigation.
ICU and hospital capacity
Hospital beds are filling up.
Available intensive care unit beds across North Carolina fell to 339 Wednesday. About 84% of ICU beds statewide are now in use.
Available inpatient beds are now at 4,627, making 78% of beds occupied statewide.
At the start of the year, there were 424 ICU beds and 5,476 inpatient beds available.
At the beginning of December, 496 ICU beds and 5,552 inpatient beds were available.
Cluster at UNC residence hall
UNC-Chapel Hill reported a COVID-19 cluster at Carmichael Residence Hall on Wednesday.
DHHS defines a cluster as five or more people testing positive that are in close proximity to each other at a specified location.
The cases at Carmichael involved students who stayed on campus over winter break and were found through surveillance testing of students who had been living at the residence hall during the break.
The report comes the same day that students were allowed to return to campus, though students can delay moving in until Feb. 7, when in-person classes resume.
Last week, UNC delayed in-person classes by three weeks.
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 12:20 PM.