RALEIGH, N.C. — A record 5,637 new coronavirus cases were reported in North Carolina on Thursday, surpassing the previous record by a whopping 25 percent.
Meanwhile, 2,101 people were being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals across the state, marking the sixth straight day a record was set in that metric.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, called the state soaring past the 5,000 mark for new cases “another devastating milestone.”
“This number is alarming,” Cohen said during a briefing on the pandemic.
The previous record for new cases was 4,514 on Nov. 22. Thursday’s record number – it comes exactly nine months after north Carolina reported its first coronavirus case – puts the rolling, seven-day average of new cases at 3,793 per day over the last week.
While the spike might be attributed to the crush of testing done before Thanksgiving as people prepared for holiday gatherings, Cohen also expressed concern over the 11.4 percent rate of positive coronavirus tests.
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