COVID-19 in NC: Hospitalizations surge to more than 3,000 for first time

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 surged to more than 3,000 for the first time ever in North Carolina on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s data reported 3,001 hospitalizations – an increase of 177 reported 2,824 by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on Monday.

A total of 97 percent of the state’s hospitals reported data for Tuesday’s numbers.

NCDHHS said there are 2,035 ICU beds in use across the state. There are 414 empty staffed ICU beds and 1,040 unreported or unstaffed ICU bed.

Hospitals across the state have 5,075 empty inpatient beds.

A total of 15,938 inpatient bed are in use.

The in-use ICU and inpatient beds numbers are not specific to COVID-19 patients, NCDHHS said.

Another 5,255 lab-confirmed cases were added to the state’s count on Tuesday, an increase from Monday’s 4,479 but follows in a repeated pattern of growth from the previous Monday-to-Tuesday numbers.

Gov. Roy Cooper is slated to speak about the state’s response to the pandemic at 2 p.m. CBS 17 will stream his comments here.

CBS 17 will update this story as it develops.