NC Sees Record Number Of COVID-19 Deaths, Hospitalizations

North Carolina reported 36 coronavirus-related deaths Tuesday, marking the biggest day-over-day increase in fatalities from the virus as the state's death toll rose to 1,154, according to data released by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

The spike in deaths in the state comes days after the CDC announced that the state-level ensemble forecasts in North Carolina, Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Utah and Vermont suggest that the number of new deaths over the next four weeks will likely exceed the number of deaths during the previous four weeks.

Hospitalizations for illness related to novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, also rose sharply overnight to 829, up from 797 reported Tuesday. As of Tuesday, North Carolina confirmed 45,853 cases of COVID-19, including 751 confirmed since Monday.

The most recent batch of data is a result of state labs processing more than 13,000 tests, increasing the total number of tests processed in the state to more than 651,000.

A survey of 85 percent of the state's hospitals show that 74 percent of both inpatient and intensive care unit hospital beds were occupied Tuesday, NCDHHS said.

COVID-19 outbreaks in congregate living facilities, such as nursing homes, residential care facilities and correctional facilities rose to 6,877 confirmed cases Tuesday. The case count represents about 15 percent of the total cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the state.

As of Tuesday, 107 of the state's 409 nursing home facilities had a COVID-19 outbreak. State health officials also reported outbreaks at 60 residential care facilities and 22 correctional facilities. About 63 percent of the deaths from COVID-19 in North Carolina have occurred in such congregate living facilities, according to NCDHHS data.

As the number of confirmed cases and hospitalizations grow, state public health officials are now considering whether to make cloth face coverings mandatory, Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday.

Under the state's current "Phase 2" restrictions, which is set to expire June 26, masks must be worn by personal care workers, such as in hair and nail salons. Cooper said a decision about how— or if — the state progresses into Phase 3 will be announced early next week.

"The health experts are looking carefully at the numbers and the science and we will let the people of North Carolina know at the first of next week whether we will go into the next phase, and if so, what that phase will look like," Cooper said during a news conference Monday.

Masks could possibly be a component of the decision, he said.

"It's absolutely in discussion right now regarding whether we make cloth face coverings mandatory and in what way we do it," Cooper said. "We want people to voluntarily to do this, but we are looking at additional rules to potentially make these mandatory."

RELATED:

• Mask Mandate Under Consideration In North Carolina: Gov. Cooper
• Nearly 1,000 New COVID-19 Cases Confirmed In North Carolina