RALEIGH, N.C. _ North Carolina reached a new high for COVID-19 hospital cases for a second-straight day Wednesday, while the state added 45 new deaths, a single-day high increase, to the pandemic's death toll.
The state Department of Health and Human Services listed hospitalizations from coronavirus reaching 1,291 statewide, increasing by 47 patients since Tuesday.
That updated total comes with 91% of hospitals reporting statewide and fewer available inpatient and intensive-care beds.
North Carolina's death toll from coronavirus reached 1,865 people, rising by 45 since Tuesday. Not all of those deaths came on a single day, but the number represents the greatest total DHHS has yet added to its daily count of fatalities from one day to the next.
DHHS reported 117,850 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in North Carolina since the pandemic began, up 1,763 from Tuesday's total.
Testing for coronavirus continued to rise across the state with 1.69 million as the running total. Of those tests, the rate of positive results remained at 7% since Tuesday, still higher than the 5% goal state health officials have set but closer than in recent weeks.
The updated totals come as state Agriculture Secretary Steve Troxler announced North Carolina will cancel the State Fair in Raleigh, one of the state's biggest economic engines and cultural celebrations. The fair has run every year since World War II.
Meanwhile, the White House coronavirus task force lists North Carolina among the states in the "red zone" because it added more than 100 cases per 100,000 people from July 18-24. That information is included in the task force's 410-page report to all 50 governors dated July 26 and obtained by McClatchy on Wednesday morning.
It is in the "yellow zone" for positive results, though, because its rate falls between 5% and 10%.
The task force recommends wearing masks, keeping to crowds with fewer than 25 people and avoiding bars and night clubs.
