COVID hospitalizations are going down in NC, but look what’s happening in ICUs
North Carolina reported Thursday that 927 COVID-19 patients are being treated in intensive care units statewide, marking 21 days in a row that the number was over 900.
The number of ICU patients with COVID-19 passed 900 for the first time three weeks ago on Aug. 27. It peaked at 955 on Aug. 29 and Tuesday.
Despite the amount of ICU patients remaining high, overall coronavirus-related hospitalizations have slightly gone down.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported 3,620 hospitalizations statewide Thursday. That’s down from the 3,815 reported a week ago, the highest amount since the metric peaked at 3,990 in mid-January.
ICU patients make up about 26% of all COVID hospitalizations.
Despite the drop in people hospitalized, the overall number has rapidly increased from the 396 reported on July 1, just before the delta variant started to surge in North Carolina.
Delta is a mutation of the coronavirus that’s more than twice as contagious as the original strain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 98% of sequenced virus in the state is delta, the latest CDC data show.
Data show that the vaccines continue to protect against the variant.
A DHHS analysis from late August concluded that unvaccinated people are more than four times as likely to contract COVID-19 and 15 times more likely to die due to the disease compared to those with their shots, The News & Observer reported.
As of Thursday, 52% of all North Carolinians and 60% of those eligible for the shot, ages 12 and up, are fully vaccinated.
Nationally, those rates are 54% and 63% respectively.
The latest death tally nationwide due COVID-19 is 662,620. Of those, 15,520 North Carolinians have died due to the virus, with 1,714 of those deaths occurring since Aug. 1.
June and July saw a combined 377 deaths.
New cases plateauing
DHHS reported 7,160 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, the second day in a row the state has reported more than 7,000.
Over the last week, DHHS has reported about 7,000 new cases per day, about the same rate as the beginning of September.
Among the tests reported Tuesday, the latest available data, 11% returned positive. Over the last week of available data, 11.3% returned positiver per day.
State health officials have said they want that rate at 5% or lower. The percent positive rate is one of many metrics that the state uses to gauge COVID-19 spread.
COVID-19 metrics reported by DHHS are preliminary and subject to change as more information becomes available.
