The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reports there now have been 131,267 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus within the state since the beginning of March.
That’s an increase of 1,979 cases from Wednesday and 9% of COVID-19 tests were positive.
NCDHHS reported 42 more deaths, bringing the state’s total to 2,092. The 42 deaths are the second-highest daily increase; the state also reported 42 new deaths on July 14.
With 90% of hospitals reporting, the state logs that 1,147 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, a decrease of 20 from the previous report.
There are 333 adult ICU COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state. People ages 25 to 49 make up 44% of the cases.
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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.
NCHSAA delays start of fall sports beyond September 1
High School sports for NCHSAA member schools will be delayed into September.
In a memo sent to media outlets, NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said several agencies plan to gather in the coming days to compile a sports calendar for the 2020-2021 school year.
Phase 2 extended at least 5 more weeks
Gov. Roy Cooper says North Carolina’s COVID-19 restrictions keeping high-risk businesses closed and mass gatherings severely limited will remain in place for another five weeks.
The governor’s decision announced on Wednesday means the mandates under his current executive order set to expire later this week will be extended beyond Labor Day at least.
Bars, gyms, movie theaters and amusement parks must remain closed and a face covering requirement in public places will continue. He says the restrictions need to stay in place in part to counterbalance the start of classes at K-12 schools and university campuses this month.