NC Coronavirus Cases Up By 511, Hospitalizations Remain Level

NORTH CAROLINA — Health officials confirmed more than 500 new coronavirus cases in North Carolina Monday, marking nearly 2,000 new cases confirmed in about 72 hours.

The new cases confirmed over the weekend increased North Carolina's number of novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, to a total of 19,023, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Two new coronavirus-related deaths were reported Monday, marking the lowest day-to-day increase in COVID-19 fatalities in weeks. At least 661 people have died in North Carolina from the virus since late March.

Hospitalizations increased slightly overnight, according to data. As of Monday morning, there were 511 people hospitalized with coronavirus-related illness, 18 more than reported Sunday.

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 6,811 tests on Monday, which increased the total number of tests processed in the state to 255,755. 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 82 percent of the state's hospitals shows that 778 of the available 3,330 ventilators in North Carolina are in use as of Monday morning. That represents about 23 percent of the state's ventilators currently in use. When it comes to intensive care unit beds, 761 beds, or about 24 percent, of 3,223 beds are filled.

Last 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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COVID-19 outbreaks in congregate living facilities, such as nursing homes, residential care facilities and correctional facilities included 4,218 confirmed cases Monday, or about 22 percent of the total cases in the state, according to NC DHHS data.

As of Monday, there were 77 nursing homes with COVID-19 outbreaks, up from 71 reported late last week. Outbreaks in residential care facilities have increased to 28, up from 25 reported May 14. There are also 18 correctional facilities with ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks, according to NC DHHS.

At least 352 nursing home residents, 47 residential care facility residents and 14 inmates in North Carolina have died from coronavirus-related illness.

Mecklenburg County continues to report the most number of positive cases. As of Monday, 2,652 people in the county had tested positive and 63 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the county, DHHS said.

In the Research Triangle, Wake County reported 1,239 confirmed cases and 28 deaths as of Monday. Durham County reported 1,009 confirmed cases and 38 deaths.

Globally, more than 4.7 million have been infected by COVID-19, and more than 315,000 people have lost their lives, Johns Hopkins University reported Monday morning. In the U.S., nearly 1.5 million people have been infected and at least 89,636 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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