COVID hospitalizations reach second highest of pandemic as NC deaths top 7,600
North Carolina reported 3,940 COVID-19 hospitalizations Tuesday, 82 more than the day before and second-highest daily total reported since last March when the pandemic began.
The highest daily hospitalization total occurred Thursday. The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 3,964 that day as North Carolina was seeing a peak in reported new cases. Thursday, Friday and Saturday all saw over 10,000 new cases each day.
DHHS reported 6,851 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, and the seven-day average for new daily cases is 8,654.
New cases and hospitalizations have risen significantly since Dec. 1, when the seven-day average of new daily cases was 3,586 and of hospitalizations, 2,033.
Among COVID-19 test results reported Sunday, the most recent day for which data was available, 14.7% of tests came back positive. That was nearly three times the 5% or lower that state health officials want.
The day before, 13.4% of the tests returned positive. The seven-day average for tests returned positive sits at 14.4%.
As of Tuesday, 7,638 people across North Carolina have died due to the virus. Over the last seven days, an average of 92 people per day have died.
Case and hospitalization data reported by DHHS are preliminary and subject to change upon further investigation.
ICU and hospital capacity
Available intensive care unit beds across the state decreased to 371 on Tuesday, down 17 from Monday.
Available inpatient hospital beds decreased by over 200. DHHS reported 4,979 beds were available on Tuesday, down from 5,200 Monday.
Available ICU beds have decreased steadily over the last two weeks and overall since the beginning of December. On Dec. 1, the state had 496 available ICU beds. At New Year’s, available beds were down to 424.
Adult patients in the ICU have significantly increased over the last month and a half. DHHS reported 839 adult ICU patients on Tuesday. On Dec. 1, there were 485.
‘The most worried I’ve been’
DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen held a press conference Friday where she urged North Carolinians to not gather with people outside their household and to assume those people have contracted the virus if they do.
“This is the most worried I’ve been for our state,” Cohen said.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 12:43 PM with the headline "COVID hospitalizations reach second highest of pandemic as NC deaths top 7,600."