The number of COVID-19 cases in North Carolina has increased by 4,440 over the past seven days to a total of 24,140. That’s up 176 from Monday. 8% of total tests on May 25 were positive. A week earlier, 6% of the tests were positive. State health officials are reporting 766 coronavirus-related deaths in North Carolina, an increase of 12.
Once a week the state updates the number of COVID-19 patients presumed to be recovered, and Monday’s estimate was 14,954. Officials estimate a median recovery time of 14 days for those not hospitalized, and 28 days for those hospitalized. Actual recovery times could be shorter or longer depending on the severity of illness. The World Health Organization reports a median recovery time of two weeks for mild cases and three to six weeks for severe or critical cases.
There have now been 2,978 COVID-19 cases in North Carolina nursing homes and 406 deaths, along with 614 cases and 57 deaths in residential care facilities. There are 83 ongoing outbreaks in nursing homes and 36 in residential care facilities. Mecklenburg County has 12 nursing home and 6 residential care facility outbreaks.
Mecklenburg County has 3,403 COVID-19 cases, more than double the number of Wake County, which has the second-most in the state with 1,478. Durham County is reporting 1,333 cases, Guilford County 1,092, Wayne County 1,029, Forsyth County 977, Robeson County 674, Duplin County 670, Randolph County 613 and Rowan County 612 cases.