Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina reported nearly 10,400 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, marking the first time the state has topped 10,000 cases in a single day and shattering the one-day record set only last week.
The mark of 10,398 new cases is almost 10 percent higher than the 9,527 cases reported on New Year's Day, and it pushed the seven-day average to a record 7,600 per day over the last week.
North Carolina also set records for COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths on Thursday.
The 137 virus-related deaths were the most for a 24-hour period. Higher death tolls were reported two days in the week after Christmas, but one of those reports covered 36 hours because of what state officials called a technical glitch in collecting data, and the other covered three days over a holiday weekend.
Statewide, 3,960 people are being treated in hospitals for COVID-19, putting a strain on available beds, especially in intensive care units. Health care regions that include the Triangle report having only 18 available ICU beds, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
"If this trend continues, I think it is going to place an incredible pressure on the hospitals in the entire state to care for the COVID population,” said Dr. Joseph Rogers, chief medical officer for Duke University Health System. "Our numbers, compared to where we were about two weeks ago across the Duke Health System, we have gone up by about 60 inpatients a day.”
About 30 percent of Duke Health's ICU beds are filled with COVID-19 patients, Rogers said.
"Since the holidays, we have seen a fairly dramatic uptick," he said.
The situation is the same at UNC Health and WakeMed.
"All of our beds are full," said Dr. Charles Harr, WakeMed's chief medical officer. "We have some patients who we are maintaining in what we call surge spaces, but all patients are getting hospital beds."
"Our main challenge is keeping all the staff available to care for patients," Harr added.
"Across UNC’s system, all 14 hospitals, we are at 480-some COVID patients being hospitalized," said Dr. Abhi Mehrotra, vice chair of UNC's Department of Emergency Medicine. "[Those are] fairly high numbers based upon what we are seeing, and we are concerned about the capacity."
The spiking numbers are tougher on smaller hospitals.
"We are at maximum capacity," said Jason Cox, vice president and chief operating officer for UNC Health Southeastern in Lumberton. "It is getting harder to find an inpatient bed as resources are strapped thin.”
The hospital wants to keep as many people out of its emergency room as possible, Cox said, so those with less serious issues are asked to go to an urgent care clinic or a primary care doctor instead.
"It is sad to see a hospital stretched to its limits if you have to see people here suffering, the fear, having to be in a hospital," he said.
WRAL Fayetteville reporter Gilbert Baez contributed to this report.
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NC smashes one-day coronavirus case count record, putting stress on hospitals - WRAL.com
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