NC COVID-19: Cases Trending High, 41 New Deaths

CHARLOTTE, NC — The rising number of coronavirus cases in North Carolina has sparked concern among state officials about what lies ahead in the winter months. Thursday, North Carolina reported 2,859 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, increasing the state's tally of known cases to 285,661, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

"We need to get these numbers down," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday.

"We are concerned about where North Carolina is," he said. Cooper's comments come one day following a spike of 100,000 cases of COVID-19 reported in one day, a development he called a "grim benchmark."

The spread of coronavirus in North Carolina is setting records of its own, according to the state's top public health official.

"Today we surpassed 2,800 cases reported in just one day," and last week there were three days with cases topping more than 2,800 cases, NC Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen said. "These are our highest daily numbers so far, and this is concerning, particularly as our weather turns colder and people are gathering indoors, which carries a higher risk."

At least 41 new COVID-19 deaths were reported Thursday, upping the death toll to 4,548. Hospitalizations also rose slightly since Wednesday, to 1,193 patients, seven more than reported the day prior, DHHS said.

While medical facilities are not currently overloaded, hospitalizations have increased since September. "Overall, we're too high as we head into the winter months when hospitals have stretched capacity even in non-COVID years due to flu and other viruses that are circulating in the winter," she said.

As of Thursday, there were 34 COVID-19 clusters reported in K-12 schools in North Carolina. DHHS defines a cluster as five or more lab-confirmed cases that are linked. At least 410 positive COVID-19 cases were associated with K-12 school clusters, DHHS said.

Globally, more than 48.4 million people have been infected by COVID-19, and more than 1.2 million people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Thursday. In the United States, more than 9.5 million people have been infected and more than 234,000 people have died from COVID-19.