RALEIGH, N.C. _ The number of patients hospitalized for coronavirus reached a new high Thursday as the state added more than 1,800 cases to its virus count.
The state Department of Health and Human Services reported 1,188 patients in hospitals across North Carolina, up 51 from Wednesday and nine higher than the previous high set Tuesday.
While the hospital total has seesawed over the last few weeks, it has remained over 1,000 patients since July 9. With 94% of the state's hospitals reporting, DHHS shows intensive-care beds at 78% capacity; inpatient, 75%.
The rise in hospital cases comes as DHHS reports 106,893 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, up 1,892 from Thursday's total.
While high, the increase falls short of Saturday's record for single-day jumps in the total, which was 2,481.
"While we are on steadier ground that most Southern states who continue to see viral spread accelerate," said Dr. Mandy Cohen, the state's DHHS secretary, during a Thursday news conference, "we have not yet turned a corner here."
As of Monday, DHHS reported 78,707 patients presumed to be recovered.
Testing for COVID-19 rose by more than 30,000 statewide, climbing to more than 1.5 million tests across the state so far. The rate of positive results remained at 8% Thursday, higher than the 5% goal state health officials have targeted.
The positive percentage has mostly fluctuated between 8% and 10%, with two brief dips to 7% and one day reaching 11%, since Memorial Day.
Cohen has said she finds North Carolina's lack of higher spikes encouraging but warns the pandemic is not abating.
"North Carolina is seeing the benefits of difficult but a necessary approach, prioritizing scientific evidence and easing restrictions slowly and responsibly," Cohen said Thursday. "I recognize that this has been a very challenging time. Yet people across North Carolina are taking actions to protect each another, including following the requirements to wear face coverings over the nose and the mouth. Unfortunately, we continue to see increases in cases."
Another sign of the virus's continued spread in the state came in Thursday's surveillance report. In the report, DHHS releases information on the number of people presenting to hospital emergency rooms with COVID-19 symptoms. It is the state's earliest indicator of the virus' penetration rate.
The latest report showed during the week that ended July 18 that the number of people being examined at emergency departments with COVID-19 symptoms increased in most areas of the state.
DHHS breaks the state down into seven regions. The only region showing a decrease included the following central North Carolina counties: Wake, Chatham, Durham, Orange, Alamance, Person, Granville, Warren, Vance and Franklin. Every other region saw increases.
At the same time, the percentage of people presenting with symptoms who were subsequently hospitalized decreased to 21% during the week of July 12-18. That could be a sign the state's record hospitalization rate might begin falling off.
That percentage had been as high as 30% in early June, the DHHS report said.
