RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — North Carolina added another 157 COVID-19 deaths to the total, the largest single-day increase in more than four months.
The state Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday also recorded its highest daily case count of the week, even as the number of patients in hospitals dropped for the 13th straight day.
The daily death total was the highest in one 24-hour period since Sept. 29, when there were 159 during the surge driven by the delta variant. Deaths often lag behind other measures because they frequently take place days or weeks before they are reported to public health officials.
A total of 21,482 people in North Carolina have died of COVID.
The 10,513 new cases — the most since Friday — pushed the running total past 2.5 million for the entire pandemic.
Even so, the trends point toward improvement with the omicron surge slowing down: The state averaged about 9,500 new cases a day over the past week — less than a third of what that average was three weeks ago. That average has gone down every day for two weeks.
And once again, there are fewer North Carolinians in hospitals: The 3,812 patients are the fewest in exactly a month, and that count is down 27 percent from the peak less than two weeks ago.
The state also says 20.2 percent of tests Monday confirmed new cases of COVID. That rate is lower than it was during much of January, but still about four times higher than the target of 5 percent.
VACCINE DOSE COUNT:
1,634 first doses
2,418 second doses
105 single-shot J&J doses
8,290 booster doses
12,447 total doses
