Local

NC COVID hospitalizations decrease; percent positive at 10%, the lowest in a month

There were 6,811 new cases of COVID-19 reported across North Carolina in Sunday’s report from the state Department of Health and Human Services.

The number of hospitalizations dipped to 3,862, a decrease of 33 from Saturday. There were 94% of hospitals in the state that reported data.

The state also reported 67 more COVID-19 -related deaths, bringing the total since March 2020 to 8,083.

[County-by-county guide: Here’s when, where you can get the COVID-19 vaccine]

The state’s percent positive testing rate was 10% on Sunday, which decreased from Saturday’s mark of 11.8%.

Earlier in the week, a technical glitch prevented some laboratory data files from being processed in the NC COVID-19 reporting system likely still impacted the numbers released on Thursday.

>> 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 morning, there were 76,895 cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) with 673 deaths due to COVID-19 reported among Mecklenburg County residents.

Highlights about the 73,913 COVID-19 cases reported in Mecklenburg County as of January 13, 2021 include:

  • About 3 in 4 reported cases were adults ages 20 to 59 years old.
  • About 1 in 20 reported cases were hospitalized due to their COVID-19 infection. While everyone is at risk for severe COVID-19 complications, reported cases who were older adults (≥ 60 years) were more likely to be hospitalized compared to younger individuals.
  • About 8 out of 10 have met CDC criteria to be released from isolation.
  • During the past week, an average of 903 laboratory-confirmed infections per day were reported compared to the 14-day average of 848 confirmed infections. This represents an increase over the last 14 days. These data are based on Mecklenburg resident cases reported to MCPH.
  • During the past week, an average of 530 individuals with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infections were hospitalized at acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County. This represents an increase 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 13.8 percent of individuals who were tested in Mecklenburg County were positive for COVID-19. This represents a decreasing 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.
  • Six hundred-sixty-five deaths due to COVID-19 occurred among reported cases.
  • Almost all deaths were among older adults (≥ 60 years), 11 deaths occurred in adults ages 20 to 39 and 80 deaths were adults ages 40 to 59.
  • All deaths, except sixteen, 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.