Rise in reported coronavirus cases slows in NC; college campuses dealing with pandemic
North Carolina added more than 500 cases to its coronavirus total Monday, its lowest single-day increase since late May.
The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 145,516 confirmed cases of COVID-19, up 564 from Sunday’s total. The numbers are preliminary and DHHS advises measuring them against periods of several days.
The last time the state added so few cases in a day was May 27, when it saw an increase of 488.
The state reported one new fatality Monday, bringing the death toll from COVID-19 to 2,348 statewide since North Carolina reported its first case in early March.
Many public schools held their first day of classes Monday, a majority of them online, while students returned to college campuses for classes despite the pandemic. Area public universities are reporting their own COVID-19 statistics.
▪ UNC-Chapel Hill on Monday announced that all classes are switching to online. The university, which updates its online coronavirus case count weekly, reported 324 positive coronavirus cases between students and employees from Aug. 10-16, a 13.6% positive rate. In the new report, students make up 275 of the reported cases. That’s an increase of 135 cases (130 students and 5 employees) since the Aug. 3-9 data was released.
This weekend, the university reported its fourth cluster, meaning five or more cases in close proximity.
▪ N.C. State reported 59 students were tested for COVID-19 by Student Health Services between Aug. 8 and Aug. 14. Three of those tests were positive.
▪ At N.C. Central, four students, six employees and one subcontractor have tested positive since July 1.
Meanwhile, the number of hospitalized patients in the state increased by 46 Monday to 980 statewide, a lower figure than in recent weeks despite Monday’s uptick.
Hospital beds became more available in Monday’s updated totals, rising to 601 for intensive care and 5,528 for inpatients.
Testing for COVID-19 continued to ramp up statewide with more than 1.93 million now performed. The rate of positive test results remained at 7% Monday, two percentage points higher than the 5% state health officials have set as a benchmark.
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Rise in reported coronavirus cases slows in NC; college campuses dealing with pandemic."