COVID hospitalizations, percent positive rate continue to fall across North Carolina

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday reported 2,541 new COVID-19 cases in the state.

More than 34,000 tests were completed in the past 24 hours.

61 confirmed COVID-19 patients were admitted to North Carolina hospitals in the past 24 hours and 1,647 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. That metric has been steadily declining since late January.

The percent of positive tests in North Carolina is at 5.9%, just slightly above the state’s goal of 5%.

30 more deaths were reported on Sunday, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 10,926.

>> Have questions about the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the Carolinas? We have an entire section dedicated to coverage of the outbreak -- CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

[WANT TO WATCH ON OUR STREAMING APPS? CLICK HERE]

[NC VACCINE PLAN: Everything you need to know]

[COUNTY-BY-COUNTY COVID-19 RESOURCE GUIDE]

[CORONAVIRUS IN THE CAROLINAS; HERE’S HOW TO STAY INFORMED]

Note: The numbers we show you every day mean everything in how our community recovers from coronavirus -- both in terms of healthcare and the economy -- but they don’t mean much without the proper context and as much transparency as possible.

New cases vary day by day based on a lot of factors. That can include how long it takes to get results back, so a new case reported today can really be several days old.

The other big metric we watch is the percent of positive cases. This is data we can only get from the state because it’s not as simple as factoring a percent of new cases each day from the number of tests. That’s because test results take days and come from a variety of places.

What about closer to home?

As of Sunday afternoon, there were 94,829 cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) with 838 deaths due to COVID-19 reported among Mecklenburg County residents.

Highlights about the 93,233 COVID-19 cases reported in Mecklenburg County as of Feb. 17, 2021 include:

• During the past week, an average of 345 laboratory-confirmed infections per day were reported compared to the 14-day average of 384 confirmed infections. This represents a decrease over the last 14 days. These data are based on Mecklenburg resident cases reported to MCPH.
• During the past week, an average of 241 individuals with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infections were hospitalized at acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County. This represents a decrease over the last 14 days. These data are based on daily census counts from acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County reporting to MCPH.
• During the past week, an average of 7.8 percent of individuals who were tested in Mecklenburg County were positive for COVID-19. This represents a decrease trend over the last 14 days. These data only include ELRs for molecular (PCR) tests submitted to NC DHHS for laboratories electronically submitting negative and positive COVID-19 results.
• Eight hundred-thirty-eight deaths due to COVID-19 occurred among reported cases.
• Almost all deaths were among older adults (≥ 60 years), 13 deaths occurred in adults ages 20 to 39 and 98 deaths were adults ages 40 to 59.
• All deaths, except twenty-one, occurred among adults with underlying chronic illnesses.
• Almost half were non-Hispanic Whites. The disparity in COVID-19 deaths among non-Hispanic Whites is related to differences in race/ethnicity of residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities actively experiencing an outbreak.
• Nearly half of deaths were connected to active outbreaks at long-term care (LTC) facilities.
• Among deaths not connected to outbreaks at long-term care facilities, nearly 3 in 4 were non-White, with 40 percent being non-Hispanic Black. As previously noted, these disparities are largely driven by higher rates of underlying chronic conditions that increase risk of severe complications due to COVID-19 infection among these communities

Based on publicly available mobility tracking data, social distancing represents a fairly stable trend in Mecklenburg County over the last 14 days.

Cox Media Group