North Carolina’s COVID-19 toll has passed 1 million cases and 13,000 deaths
North Carolina reported its 1 millionth positive test for COVID-19 on Thursday, 450 days after reporting its first.
More than 13,000 North Carolinians have died due to the virus, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
The pandemic has had a broad effect on society, including public health, the economy, education and politics.
Dr. Myron Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina, told The News & Observer that in his four-decade career, he has never seen anything like the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As a physician and a public health person for 40 years, there’s really nothing like this,” Cohen said. “This is like the beginning of the HIV pandemic on steroids.”
Cohen said crucial lessons have been learned during the pandemic, such as knowing how diseases like COVID-19 primarily spread — through respiratory droplets in close contact with other people.
But to be ready for another pandemic, Cohen said, politicization of infectious diseases needs to stop.
“Politicizing an infectious disease never makes sense,” Cohen said. “It’s still politicized. That’s very unfortunate because we need to get past that getting ready for the next pandemic.”
Infections and deaths are the numbers by which the pandemic will be measured, but other numbers tallied over the past 15 months illuminate the breadth and depth of its effect. Here are some of them:
The COVID-19 pandemic by the numbers in North Carolina
Total population: 10.5 million
People who tested positive for COVID-19 at some point during the pandemic: 1,000,416, 9.5%
Deaths due to COVID-19: 13,055
Deaths due to the flu since September 2019: 193
Most deaths in one day due to COVID-19: 127 on Jan. 15
Deaths due to COVID-19 in nursing homes and residential care facilities: 5,484; 42%
Percentage of N.C. population that is white: 63%
Percentage that is Black: 22%
Percentage that is Hispanic: 9.8%
Percentage of COVID-19 fatalities who were white: 55.1%
Percentage who were Black: 23.4%
Percentage who were Hispanic: 7%
People fully vaccinated: 4,030,074; 38% of total
Percentage of adults fully vaccinated: 49%
Percentage of people fully vaccinated by race:
- White: 2,505,507; 62.2%
- Black: 670,988; 16.6%
- Hispanic: 264,229; 6.6%
Peak hospitalizations due to COVID-19: 3,992 on Jan. 13
Total number of COVID-19 tests administered: 13,172,092
People in 10 most populous counties: 4,820,470; 45% of total
People fully vaccinated in 10 most populous counties: 1,976,656; 48.2%
People in 90 least populous counties: 5,780,353; 55% of total
People fully vaccinated in 90 least populous counties: 2,003,482; 48.9% of total
People fully vaccinated from out of state: 71,348
Adults who are vaccine hesitant: 2.4 million; 29% of total
Percentage of Black adults who are vaccine hesitant: 39%
Percentage of white adults who are vaccine hesitant: 26%
Percentage of adults with previous COVID-19 infection who are vaccine hesitant: 47%
Percentage of adults with no previous infection who are vaccine hesitant: 27%
COVID-19 executive orders issued by Gov. Roy Cooper: 69
Bills related to the coronavirus introduced in the state legislature: 90
Bills related to the coronavirus enacted by the state legislature: 17
People who filed for unemployment benefits during the pandemic: 1,503,109
Total amount paid to North Carolinians who filed for unemployment: $11,903,279,688
Pandemic’s peak unemployment rate: 12.9% in April 2020
Increase of people who receive food and nutrition services since March 2020: 354,285
People incarcerated in state prisons who have died due to COVID-19: 55
Drop in number of people incarcerated from 2019 to 2020: 4,952
Drop in first month of public school enrollment from 2019 to 2020: 32,580
Lowest average price of regular gas per gallon during pandemic: $1.71 in April 2020
Drop in miles driven in North Carolina from 2019 to 2020: 14 billion
Flight passengers at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in April 2019: 1,140,356
In April 2020: 40,036
In April 2021: 606,460
Total masks ordered from private sector through DHHS: 47.4 million
Increase in retail liquor sales from 2019 to 2020: $189.7 million
Sources: The U.S. Census Bureau and its Household Pulse Survey, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, N.C. Office of the Governor, National Conference of State Legislatures, N.C. Department of Employment Security, N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Department of Public Safety, AAA Carolinas, N.C. Department of Transportation, N.C. Department of Public Instruction, Raleigh-Durham International Airport and the N.C. ABC Commission.
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 12:30 PM with the headline "North Carolina’s COVID-19 toll has passed 1 million cases and 13,000 deaths."