Raleigh, NC – After ending a two-week series of daily records regarding the number of people treated for COVID-19 in North Carolina on Monday, the state hit a new record Tuesday.
The 2,735 patients reported Tuesday means that more than 15 percent of all hospital patients statewide have tested positive for coronavirus. A record 643 of them are in intensive care, meaning nearly a quarter of the ICU beds in the state are filled with COVID-19 patients.
“Too many North Carolinians are becoming 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 all become so numb to these numbers, so I ask you to take a moment to think about who these people are. They are our neighbors, our friends, our relatives – they are people we love, Cohen said. “I know no one wants this for our state.”
Cohen and Governor Roy Cooper said the increase in the virus – North Carolina also registered 5,236 new infections on Tuesday, which was the sixth time in the past week that the daily total exceeded 5,000 – was expected after people traveled and had family reunions. for Thanksgiving.
They said the numbers could be even worse after Hanukkah, Christmas and other holidays in the coming weeks, and Cooper once again urged people to forgo traditional gatherings and choose to call loved ones or chat online.
“If you must [travel]“It’s essential that you get tested, wear a mask, keep it small and keep it outdoors,” he said.
DHHS will host 300 free, walk-up, or drive-thru testing events across the state over the next two weeks to assist with the pre-holiday testing. Some Agri Supply, Carlie C’s IGA, Home Depot, Piggly Wiggly and Wegman’s stores have agreed to offer testing in their parking lots on December 18-20 and December 26-27 in Wake, Durham, Harnett, Lee and three other counties.
Testing and ongoing precautions are necessary even as the first shipment of the Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrives in dozens of hospitals across the state this week, Cooper said.
“The numbers are too high for the vaccine to change this,” he said.
North Carolina officials won’t know until Friday how many doses of the vaccine the state will receive next week, making distribution plans more difficult.
“It is not enough time to allow the state and suppliers to plan an appropriate allocation or to coordinate vaccination schedules for staff,” Cohen said, noting that hospitals are trying to juggle which staff to vaccinate when. is becoming.
Cooper said he has 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. different 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 Moderna vaccine next week, with half of that allocation reserved for residents and staff of long-term care facilities. Walgreens and CVS have contracted with the federal government to treat those vaccinations.
Cohen said officials hope to have a vaccine in all 100 counties statewide by the end of next week, but because officials don’t yet know how much Pfizer vaccine to expect, it’s impossible to say how much.
Both vaccines require two injections – the injections should be taken three weeks apart with the Pfizer vaccine and four weeks apart with Moderna – and Cohen said the government will ship the same number of Pfizer doses within two weeks to every hospital. get shipments this week. They are ready to give the second chance to the health workers being vaccinated this week.