RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina has now seen more than 400,000 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in March. The state reported 4,670 new cases on Tuesday, bringing the statewide total to 404,032.
Hospitalizations increased to 2,373 statewide, an increase of more than 100 from Monday, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported.
The 10 days with the most statewide hospitalizations have occurred in the past 10 days, according to data from DHHS. And Tuesday marked the sixth straight day of hospitalizations setting a daily record.
DHHS reported that 45 North Carolinians have died because of the virus in the past day, bringing the total number of deaths to 5,605.
The seven-day average for new daily cases is now a record 5,234.
This is because Saturday and Sunday saw 6,018 and 6,438 new cases, respectively. This was the first time in the pandemic that North Carolina reported over 6,000 new cases in a day.
The percentage of COVID-19 tests returned positive on Sunday, the latest day with available data, was 9.7% — a decrease from 10.5% from the day before.
The seven-day daily average though is 10.4%. That's well above the 5% mark that state health officials desire and a benchmark that North Carolina hasn't met since Sept. 24.
