NC Update: More Than 7,000 Positive For Coronavirus, 242 Dead

NORTH CAROLINA — The tally of North Carolina residents confirmed to have novel coronavirus is now 7,220, an increase of 269 new cases since Tuesday, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday morning.

The new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, is responsible for at least 242 deaths in the state, 29 more that reported Tuesday.

The new batch of data released April 22 by state public health officials shows that laboratories in the state have completed more than 90,300 tests.

Hospitalizations also rose by 7 overnight to 434, NC DHHS said.

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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 48 percent of the state's death toll.

As of Wednesday, at least 1,963 people have tested positive at North Carolina congregate living facilities as COVID-19 outbreaks were reported in 39 nursing homes, 14 residential care facilities and at least 12 correctional facilities, NC DHHS said.

Heath officials say they expect the numbers to go up as more tests become available.

According to NC DHHS, a survey of 90 percent of the state's hospitals shows that 679 of the available 3,202 ventilators in North Carolina are in use as of Wednesday. That represents a about 21 percent of the state's ventilators are currently in use. When it comes to intensive care unit beds, 893 beds, or nearly 28 percent, of 3,223 beds are filled.

Globally, nearly 2.6 million have been infected by COVID-19, and nearly 180,000 people have lost their lives, Johns Hopkins University reported Wednesday morning. In the U.S., at least 45,153 people have died from COVID-19.

As of Wednesday morning, coronavirus cases have been confirmed in 93 of the state's 100 counties.

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 in 93 of North Carolina's 100 counties, along with the number of cases by county and the number of deaths:

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