New COVID-19 Cases Increase NC Tally To Nearly 400,000

CHARLOTTE, NC — North Carolina reported 4,372 new coronavirus cases Monday, upping the state's tally of COVID-19 cases to 399,362. The rise in cases increases the percentage of positive cases, which state health officials want below 5 percent, to 10.5 percent, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services data.

As of Dec. 7, coronavirus had claimed at least 5,560 lives in the state since March. At least 93 North Carolinians have died from COVID-19 since Friday.

Statewide hospitalizations also hit a new high Monday. According to DHHS data, at least 2,240 patients sought medical treatment for coronavirus illness, an increase of 83 patients reported in the span of 72 hours.

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Supply of staffed hospital beds are growing thin in the 13 counties that comprise the Charlotte metro region. As of Monday, about 83 percent of the regional staffed intensive care unit beds were full, leaving 71 empty staffed ICU beds, according to DHHS. About 78 percent of the region's staffed inpatient hospital beds were full, leaving 1,032 staffed beds available.

As of Monday, there were 39 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 730 positive COVID-19 cases were associated with K-12 school clusters, DHHS said.

Globally, more than 67 million people have been infected by COVID-19, and more than 1.5 million people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Monday. In the United States, more than 14.8 million people have been infected and more than 283,000 people have died from COVID-19.

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