36 New Deaths As NC Coronavirus Cases Jump By More Than 400

NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina's coronavirus death toll jumped by three dozen overnight, as state public health officials report an increase of known cases rose by more than 400 cases and is now present in all but four of the state's 100 counties.

As of Tuesday morning, novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, had claimed the lives of at least 342 residents of North Carolina, NC Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday. The state has confirmed at least 9,568 people have tested positive for COVID-19, an increase of 426 cases since Monday.

Hospitalizations dipped slightly overnight to 463, NC DHHS said.

The new batch of data released April 28 by state public health officials shows that laboratories in the state have completed at least 112,752 tests.

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The number of outbreaks confirmed in congregate living facilities in the state, such as nursing homes and residential care facilities, continues to rise as deaths reported in these facilities claim about half of the state's death toll.

Tuesday, DHHS reversed course and are now identifying specific facility locations where outbreaks are occurring. The news of the new set of data, which will be updated twice a week going forward, comes after DHHS faced intense criticism for withholding the names of facilities, the Charlotte Observer reported.

As of Tuesday morning, at least 2,729 people had tested positive at North Carolina congregate living facilities as COVID-19 outbreaks were reported in 48 nursing homes, 20 residential care facilities and at least 13 correctional facilities, DHHS said.

SEE ALSO: Coronavirus Stay-At-Home Order Extended In North Carolina

According to the state agency, a survey of about 92 percent of the state's hospitals shows that 662 of the available 2,996 ventilators in North Carolina are in use as of Tuesday. That represents about 22 percent of the state's ventilators are currently in use. When it comes to intensive care unit beds, 826 beds, or about 26 percent, of 3,223 beds are filled.

Globally, more than 3 million have been infected by COVID-19, and more than 213,000 people have lost their lives, Johns Hopkins University reported Tuesday morning. In the U.S., at least 56,749 people have died from COVID-19.

In an attempt to provide as much information to our readers as possible, Patch is publishing a county-by-county breakdown of the coronavirus cases reported in 96 of North Carolina's 100 counties, along with the number of cases by county and the number of deaths:

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