ICU Beds Filling Up In Charlotte Metro, Around North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, NC — COVID-19 hospitalizations rose throughout North Carolina over the weekend, with patients filling 2,651 beds, according to state public health data released Monday.

The number of known COVID-19 cases in the state rose by 3,778 new cases Monday, as the state's percent of positive cases also rose, to nearly 13 percent.

Intensive care unit hospitalizations are also up across the state, as well as the number of patients on ventilators. Statewide, 665 adult COVID patients were in staffed ICU beds, up from 631 reported the day before. The rise in patients meant that about 86 percent of the state's 2,249 staffed ICU beds were full, DHHS said. In the Charlotte metro region, about 90 percent of ICU beds were full Monday.

About one out of every four hospitalized adult COVID patient is in ICU and 13 percent are on ventilators in North Carolina, according to the data.

As of Monday, 41 of the Charlotte metro region's 395 staffed ICU beds remained empty, according to the data, which pertains to Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba, Cleveland, Burke, Cabarrus, Stanley, Union, Anson and Scotland counties.

Vaccinations efforts continue to wane throughout the state, where about 48 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.

North Carolina has reported at least 56 deaths from COVID-19 in the last week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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