CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina hit yet another data milestone Wednesday, with an all-time high in hospitalizations. The development comes just two days after hospitalizations marked their previous high and four days after the largest one-day increase in coronavirus cases.
Hospitalizations are up to 702, which is a spike of 81 from Tuesday.
The development falls in line with the upward movement in the metric that WCNC Charlotte has been tracking over the past several days. In the graph below, the 7-day moving average line starts to trend higher after the marker for May 16. This is after it was slightly trending downward for several days before.
According to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, a check of statewide hospital resources shows, with 92 percent of hospitals reporting, there are 29% of inpatient beds left, or about 5,546; 22% of ICU beds are open, or 710; and there are 76% of ventilators left, or around 2,513.
Percent positive tests also appear to increase around the same time as the hospitalization increases, and that trend line continues to move upward with each new day of data.
Meantime, North Carolina's coronavirus case count is now up to 24,628.
In a statement, a governor's spokesperson confirms health officials have been tracking an increase in both "hospitalizations and positive cases over the last few days," and says that they "will continue to work with the private sector" as the state moves forward with reopening.
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