Raleigh, North Carolina – After completing a two-week daily record of the number of people served by COVID-19 in North Carolina on Monday, the state reached a new all-time high on Tuesday.
The 2,735 patients reported Tuesday means more than 15 percent of all hospital patients statewide have tested positive for coronavirus. A record 643 of them are in intensive care units, meaning nearly a quarter of the state’s ICU beds are full of COVID-19 patients.
“Too many North Carolinians get seriously ill,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, noting that the number of COVID-19 patients in North Carolina has doubled. since mid-November.
“I know we’re all so insensitive to these numbers, so I ask you to take a moment to think about who these people are. They’re our neighbors, our friends, our family: they’re people we love,” Cohen said. “I know no one wants this for our state.”
Cohen and Gov. Roy Cooper said the virus was expected to rise (North Carolina also recorded 5,236 new infections on Tuesday, marking for the sixth time last week that the daily total exceeded 5,000) after people traveled and had family reunions for Thanksgiving.
They said the numbers could be even worse after Hanukkah, Christmas and other festive celebrations in the coming weeks, and Cooper again urged people to give up traditional gatherings and instead choose loved ones. by phone or online chat.
“It simply came to our notice then [travel], it is essential to do tests, wear a mask, keep it small and keep it outside, ”he said.
DHHS is hosting 300 free, uphill or driving test events statewide over the next two weeks to help with pre-holiday testing. Some stores Agri Supply, Carlie C’s IGA, Home Depot, Piggly Wiggly and Wegman’s have agreed to offer testing in their parking lots Dec. 18-20 and Dec. 26-27 in Wake, Durham, Harnett, Lee and three other counties.
Continued testing and precautions are needed, although the first shipment of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine hits dozens of hospitals statewide this week, Cooper said.
“The numbers are too high for the vaccine to turn that around,” he said.
North Carolina officials will not know until Friday how many doses of the vaccine the state will receive next week, making distribution planning difficult.
“It’s not enough time to allow the state and providers to plan an appropriate allocation or coordinate vaccination schedules for staff,” said Cohen, who noted that hospitals are trying to juggle which employees will be vaccinated when.
Cooper said he asked Vice President Mike Pence and General Gustave Perna, who oversees the distribution of vaccines for Operation Warp Speed, to announce state allocations sooner so that North Carolina and other states have more time to determine where they have. to go several shipments.
Distribution could become even more complex if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves a second vaccine, made by Moderna, later this week.
Cooper said North Carolina could receive 175,000 doses of the Modern vaccine next week, with half of that allocation set aside for residents and long-term care facility staff. Walgreens and CVS have contracted with the federal government to manage these vaccines.
Cohen said officials expect to have a vaccine in 100 counties across the state by the end of next week, but since officials still don’t know what Pfizer vaccine they expect, it’s impossible to say how many.
Both vaccines require two shots: shots should be taken three weeks apart with the Pfizer vaccine and four weeks apart with Moderna, and Cohen said the government will send the same number of doses of Pfizer in two weeks to each hospital. to send this week. We are ready to give vaccinated health workers a second chance this week.