35 COVID-19 Deaths In A Day, NC Tally Nears 158,000 Confirmations

NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina's count of known COVID-19 cases in the state reached 157,741 Tuesday, an increase of 1,345 confirmed cases recorded in the state in the span of a day.

The state's virus death toll also jumped by 35 Tuesday, increasing the number of lives lost to COVID-19 in the state to 2,570, according to data released by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. On a national level, coronavirus was responsible for nearly 178,000 deaths in the U.S., Johns Hopkins University reported Tuesday afternoon.

As of Aug. 25, about 7.4 percent of tests in North Carolina were positive, the highest day reported in the past five days, according to DHHS data.

Also growing are the number of COVID-19 cases associated with clusters at either a school or child care center. DHHS defines a cluster as five or more laboratory-confirmed cases that are linked. As of Aug. 25, clusters at 22 child care centers were associated with 243 COVID-19 cases, and one cluster at a school was associated with 19 cases.

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Hospitalizations rose again slightly for the third day in a row in North Carolina. As of Tuesday, 1,000 patients were hospitalized with coronavirus-related illness in state hospitals, 52 more than reported Monday.

An Aug. 25 survey of 92 percent of the state's hospitals reported that there were 6,157 empty staffed inpatient hospital beds and 578 empty staffed intensive care unit beds remaining in the state. Ventilators also remained in supply, according to the survey, with 2,421 remaining available, DHHS said.

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