Health & Fitness
Nearly 1,000 New COVID-19 Cases Confirmed In North Carolina
Nine deaths were reported Monday, increasing the coronavirus death toll to 1,118 in North Carolina, according to state health officials.
NORTH CAROLINA — More than 45,000 cases of novel coronavirus were confirmed in North Carolina Monday morning, increasing the known number of cases in the state by nearly 1,000 as public health officials brace for an increase across the state in the coming month.
On Friday, the CDC announced that the state-level ensemble forecasts in North Carolina, Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Utah and Vermont suggest that the number of new deaths over the next four weeks will likely exceed the number of deaths during the previous four weeks.
Other states are expected to experience about the same or a slight decrease in the number of deaths, according to the CDC.
Find out what's happening in Across North Carolinafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
As of Monday, there were 45,102 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, reported in North Carolina — 983 more than reported Sunday. Nine new deaths were also reported since Sunday, pushing the state's death tally to 1,118, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said.
"The high number of new cases is not just related to more testing," Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference Friday. "These numbers show that the disease is spreading and more people need hospital care. This has to be taken seriously."
Find out what's happening in Across North Carolinafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
On June 15, the state reported 797 hospitalizations, down from the 812 hospitalization peak North Carolina reported Thursday. Monday's number of hospitalizations is one patient less than reported Sunday.
A survey of 73 percent of the state's hospitals Monday indicated that 78 percent of North Carolina's intensive care beds were occupied, as were 73 percent of its inpatient hospital beds.
As of Monday morning, 115,755 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. A recent national ensemble forecast suggests that the death toll is likely to increase to between 124,000 and 140,000 total reported coronavirus deaths by July 4th.
The CDC based its prediction on national forecasts put together by 17 institutes including Georgia Tech, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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