As North Carolina prepared to enter Phase 2 of easing restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, state health officials reported another 708 COVID-19 cases Friday, for a total of 21,618. 12 additional deaths were reported, with 728 total. The number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations decreased by 10 to 568.
The state says more than 12,500 total tests were done in the past 24 hours, higher than the goal of between 5,000 and 7,000 daily. 9% of total tests were positive on May 21. Over the past two weeks that daily number has ranged from 5% to 9%. In late April, those rates were in the 8% to 13% range.
In Mecklenburg County, health officials say a 43 year with no known underlying health conditions died of COVID-19 on Thursday. All of the other 72 coronavirus-related deaths in Mecklenburg County were in adults with underlying chronic illnesses. More than half of the deaths were connected to active outbreaks at long-term care facilities.
There have been a total of 2,945 COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg County. About 75% of those cases were in people between 20 and 59 years old. Over the past week, an average of 62 people were hospitalized in Mecklenburg County acute care facilities, a slight increase over the past 14 days.
An average of 6.3 individuals who were tested byAtrium Health and Novant Health over the past week tested positive for COVID-19, a slight decrease over the past two weeks.