Jan. 14. COVID-related hospitalizations statewide were struck over the 4,000 mark for a third reporting day, hitting 4,381 in today’s coronavirus update from the NC Dept. of Health & Human Services.

New cases have also climbed well above last week’s peak of 28,474 on Jan. 7, hitting 35,759 today, according to NCDHHS. (It’s lower than yesterday’s increase of 44,833, which was due to a lab adding a backlog of data that should have been reported earlier.)

Deaths

There were 53 new COVID deaths reported today statewide.

Positivity rate

The statewide positivity rate rose to 31.6 percent—above 30 percent for an eighth reporting day. In Mecklenburg, the 14-day average positivity rate climbed to 35.8 percent.

The CDC is reporting 208,564,894 Americans have been fully vaccinated, or 62.8 percent of the population.

Mecklenburg

There were 2,519 new COVID cases reported county-wide between yesterday and today.

North Mecklenburg (change from Thursday)

• Cornelius: 66 new cases, 5,379 cumulative total, 32 deaths cumulative total.

• Davidson: 37 new cases, 3,169 cumulative total, 20 deaths cumulative total.

• Huntersville: 153 new cases, 12,124 cumulative total, 81 deaths cumulative total.