NC shatters record for new COVID cases, reporting ‘staggering’ 7,540 cases in one day
North Carolina’s health department reported 7,540 new coronavirus cases Friday, shattering the state’s previous record for daily cases of 6,495, which was reported on Wednesday.
The surge in cases comes two weeks after Thanksgiving, illustrating the impact of holiday gatherings, said Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, in a statement.
“Having more than 7,500 cases is staggering and alarming,” Cohen said.
That brings the state’s total cases to 423,623 since the start of the pandemic.
As cases and hospitalizations rise, Gov. Roy Cooper called for a new modified stay-at-home order that goes into effect Friday at 5 p.m.
The order requires people to stay at home between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m unless they are traveling to or from work or traveling to obtain essential goods or services, such as food, fuel, medical care. Businesses are required to close by 10 p.m. unless they are selling those essential goods, and all on-site alcohol consumption sales is required to end by 9 p.m. The new order will last until at least Jan. 8.
Also Friday, N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley ordered all in-person, non-essential court activity to stop for 30 days, according to a memorandum to courts statewide.
Hospitalizations continued to climb, with the state reporting 2,514 people hospitalized, an increase of 70 from Thursday.
NC DHHS reported 5,752 deaths, an increase of 38 from yesterday.
“We are on a dangerous course,” Cohen said at a news conference Thursday. “Hospitals are feeling the strain, and this is really worrisome.”
She noted that since hospital figures look at data from the past, they aren’t an up-to-date indicator of the strain inside hospitals.
Thanksgiving surge in cases
Across the country, states are reporting a surge in cases likely linked to Thanksgiving travel and gatherings. Over the last seven days, there has been a 10.3% increase in cases nationwide, according to The COVID Tracking Project. More states imposed new restrictions in the past week as case numbers have surged in many states.
But health officials say the worst is yet to come.
Earlier this week, Cohen said the increasing COVID-19 case numbers likely reflected those “who went to Thanksgiving already sick.” She said the state would next see an increase reflecting people who contracted COVID-19 from those people at Thanksgiving.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, said Monday that the full effect of the COVID-19 spread during Thanksgiving would likely not be felt until some time next week, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Cohen urged people to stay home for the upcoming Christmas holidays and to avoid gatherings in her press conference Thursday.
“Please, please avoid traveling and gathering this holiday season,” she said.
For families that do gather, Cohen said, “Keep it small and keep it outdoors.” She added that masks should be worn at all times and that people should maintain social distancing.
Those who seek to travel or gather with people outside their households should also get a COVID-19 test, she said.
Vaccine roll-out
The state expects to receive 85,800 doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week and will distribute it to frontline workers in about half of the state’s hospitals, said Cohen at the press conference. On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized use of the Pfizer vaccine on an emergency basis.
It likely won’t be until the spring that there will be enough COVID-19 vaccine doses available in North Carolina that anyone can get one, she said.
“We’re talking about limited supplies at first, and so we don’t really know yet what the time sequence is going to be in terms of us having vaccine that is more widely available to the general public,” Cohen said at a press conference Thursday. “It is not going to be in the early part of 2021.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 11:53 AM with the headline "NC shatters record for new COVID cases, reporting ‘staggering’ 7,540 cases in one day."
