Methodology changed: Average number of new cases past 7 days is 18% ahead of past 31 days
Nov. 17. By Dave Yochum. With Gov. Roy Cooper set to address North Carolina this afternoon, the NC Dept. of Health & Human Services reported 3,288 new cases of COVID-19 statewide.
That’s up from 1,972 new cases yesterday but down from the record 3,885 new cases reported Saturday.
While there have been changes in the way new cases and hospitalizations are reported on the health department’s website, the size of the increases is troubling to health officials. Nearly twice as many new cases have been reported from rural North Carolina counties compared to urban or suburban counties. The majority of cases in rural counties are increasingly white, non-Hispanic as compared with previous months.
GOV. ROY COOPER
Total cases
The cumulative total of COVID-19 cases now stands at 317,495 statewide.
The average number of new cases over the past week is now running 18 percent ahead of the average number of new cases over the previous 31 days based on data collected by Johns Hopkins University (2,763 over 7 days vs. 2,341 over 31 days.)
Nationwide, JHU is reporting more than 11 million cases, more than 247,000 deaths and 4.24 million recoveries.
Testing
Tests are coming back positive at the rate of 8.6 percent statewide. In Mecklenburg County, positive tests are running at 7.2 percent. The goal is to trend down from 5 percent.
Hospitalizations
Hospitalizations statewide rose past 1,500 for the first time, to 1,501, a daily record. That’s up from 1,424 Monday, and 1,230 one week ago, according to the NCDHHS.
Deaths
There were 38 new deaths statewide due to COVID-19, up from eight yesterday. A total of 4,852 North Carolinians have died due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mecklenburg
In Mecklenburg County, there were 317 new cases in today’s NCDHHS report, up from 231 yesterday. There have been a total of 421 deaths countywide, up four from yesterday.
North Mecklenburg
Cornelius: 8 new cases, 825 cumulative; 17 deaths total.
Davidson: 7 new cases, 435 cumulative; 7 deaths total.
Huntersville: 19 new cases, 1,518 cumulative; 14 deaths total.
