North Carolina reached a record high in COVID-19 hospitalizations for the second day in a row Thursday. It also recorded its third-highest number of deaths in a single day. Gov. Roy Cooper and public health officials say they’re closely watching the state’s health trends as the state reopens in phases.
North Carolina now has 708 people in the hospital for COVID-19. It’s the third time this week the state has hit a new high in one of its key metrics for tracking the coronavirus outbreak. North Carolina also reported 33 deaths, the highest daily death toll since late April.
Cooper said at a press briefing Thursday he was aware of the spikes but is also watching the overall trends.
"We are concerned about the number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 continuing to go up," Cooper said. "This is why we’re in Phase 2 right now, and not opening everything up. This is why we think we need to stay in Phase 2 for a while, to see how these numbers go.
Many of North Carolina’s hospitals, including Atrium and Novant, have restarted elective surgeries and non-COVID-19 treatments. Those procedures reduce hospital bed capacity. Cooper says he is confident the state’s hospital systems have learned how to gauge their bed capacity, and are able to surge it quickly if the state experiences a spike in its coronavirus cases.
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