NC reports state’s 2nd-highest new daily COVID-19 cases since start of pandemic
The state of North Carolina reported its second-highest number of new daily coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.
Thursday’s new cases — 2,859 — come as the United States reported the nation’s second-highest daily total Wednesday.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported that the state set a new record for daily cases last Thursday: 2,885 cases.
The additional cases reported Thursday bring the running total of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 285,661 statewide since the start of the pandemic in March.
Daily numbers have trended consistently high in recent weeks. Over the last 10 days, new cases have topped 2,000 each day except one.
The percentage of positive tests has also been consistently higher than the 5% that officials want. The state reported that 6.6% of tests were positive Tuesday, the latest day for which data were available.
Hospitalization rates
The number of hospitalized patients has remained high in recent weeks.
The number of hospitalized patients was 1,193 on Thursday, after 146 confirmed COVID-19 patients were admitted in the last 24 hours. It has continued to drop slightly after DHHS last week reported the state’s second-highest totals for hospitalized patients since the pandemic began: 1,214 people.
There are 5,307 empty hospital beds and 505 empty ICU beds statewide.
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 12:24 PM with the headline "NC reports state’s 2nd-highest new daily COVID-19 cases since start of pandemic."
