691 Coronavirus Cases Confirmed In A Day: NC's Biggest Jump Yet

NORTH CAROLINA — Six days after North Carolina began the first phase of relaxing restrictions, nearly 700 new coronavirus cases were confirmed, marking the largest day-over-day increase yet for the state.

North Carolina's number of new coronavirus cases jumped by 691 cases Thursday, for a total of 16,507 cases confirmed in the state, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, was also reportedly to blame for 18 new deaths in the state since Wednesday, increasing the state's total death count to 615.

Hospitalizations improved slightly overnight, according to data. As of Thursday morning, there were 507 people hospitalized with coronavirus-related illness, 14 fewer than reported Wednesday.

State public health officials say increases in the number of confirmed cases are expected as testing ramps up throughout North Carolina. The state collected results from 8,811 tests on Thursday, which increased the total number of tests processed in the state to 219,268. The state's goal is to test between 5,000 and 7,000 people per day.

According to the state agency, a survey of about 92 percent of the state's hospitals shows that 765 of the available 3,334 ventilators in North Carolina are in use as of Wednesday morning. That represents about 23 percent of the state's ventilators currently in use. When it comes to intensive care unit beds, 771 beds, or about 24 percent, of 3,223 beds are filled.

This week, state health officials began reporting estimates of state residents recovering from COVID-19. As of May 11, an estimated 9,115 residents who were confirmed to have the coronavirus are considered likely recovered, according to NC DHHS.

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The spread of COVID-19 in congregate living facilities throughout the state also increased slightly since Wednesday, by 21 people for a total of 3,939 confirmed cases. Two new nursing home outbreaks were reported since Wednesday, bringing the total number of nursing home facilities with staff and/or residents with COVID-19 to 71.

Outbreaks in residential care facilities increased by one facility, for a total of 25. There are also 18 correctional facilities with ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks, according to data released by NC DHHS.

Congregate living facilities, such as nursing homes, residential care facilities and correctional facilities, account for about a quarter of the confirmed coronavirus cases in the state but claim more than 60 percent of North Carolina's COVID-19 deaths. At least 318 nursing home residents, 47 residential care facility residents and two inmates in North Carolina have died from coronavirus-related illness.

Mecklenburg County continues to report the most number of positive cases. As of Thursday, 2,320 people in the county had tested positive and 62 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the county, DHHS said.

In the Research Triangle, Wake County reported 1,107 confirmed cases and 27 deaths as of Thursday. Durham County reported 924 confirmed cases and 36 deaths.

Globally, nearly 4.4 million have been infected by COVID-19, and more than 300,000 people have lost their lives, Johns Hopkins University reported Thursday morning. In the U.S., more than 1.4 million people have been infected and at least 84,985 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 99 of North Carolina's 100 counties, along with the number of cases by county and the number of deaths:

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