North Carolina reports highest single-day number of coronavirus deaths
North Carolina on Tuesday reported the highest single-day increase in coronavirus fatalities since the pandemic reached the state in early March.
The state Department of Health and Human Services reported N.C.’s COVID-19 death toll at 2,396, which includes 48 newly reported deaths and passes the daily increase record of 45 set on July 29 and Aug. 12.
DHHS stresses that not all deaths occur on the same day but are based on when reports are received, and they often come slower after the weekend. Tuesday’s figure represents the day with the highest number of death reports since March 3, when the first coronavirus case in the state was reported.
North Carolina also added more than 1,200 new reported cases to its running coronavirus total.
DHHS listed 146,779 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, up 1,263 from Monday’s total. Daily updates on the DHHS dashboard are preliminary, but Tuesday’s number is nearly twice the number of new cases reported Monday.
The increase comes as UNC-Chapel Hill announced its moving all classes online after 130 students tested positive for COVID-19 and four clusters were reported over three days in on- and off-campus housing.
The age breakdown of North Carolina’s caseload on Tuesday still showed most reported cases are in patients aged 25 to 49. But college-aged patients, aged 18 to 24, represented more than 20,000 cases, or 14% of the total.
The state reported that 127,749 people are presumed to have recovered from COVID-19 across the state.
And while testing passed 1.95 million statewide, the rate of positive test results was 7% — higher than the 5% benchmark state health officials have set.
Reported hospitalized COVID-19 patients jumped by 46 Tuesday, rising to 1,026 statewide.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 2:07 PM with the headline "North Carolina reports highest single-day number of coronavirus deaths."