Aug. 10. The NC Department of Health and Human Services this afternoon reported 626 new cases of COVID-19 statewide, down dramatically from recent weeks. There were four new deaths in today’s NCDHHS update, down from eight new deaths Sunday and 26 on Saturday.

Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 rose by only two, to 1,111, approaching levels that were seen one month ago.

The median number of daily new cases—over the past week vs the past month—is encouraging. Based on Johns Hopkins University data, the state’s median number of daily new cases—1,535 over the past week—is 17 percent lower than the daily median of 1,849 over the past month.

The positive testing rate is also down: 5 percent statewide in today’s report. It’s generally accepted that the rates of positivity in testing should remain at 5 percent or lower for 14 days. Testing exceeded 2 million total, from about 1 million a month ago.

Mecklenburg

In Mecklenburg County, there were only 60 new cases from yesterday to today. There were four new deaths, for a total of 232, since the outbreak began in March.

In Mecklenburg County, the median number of daily new cases is down 27 percent vs the past 30 days volume of new daily cases.

Over the past seven days, Mecklenburg has averaged 14 percent of the state’s new confirmed cases per day.

Mecklenburg positive results are running at 7 percent.

Recoveries

The estimated number of patients presumed to be recovered from symptoms from COVID-19 is now 117,000 statewide.