Raleigh, NC – The number of coronavirus-related deaths in North Carolina continues to rise, and the state exceeded 9,000 deaths during the pandemic on Thursday.
Another 131 deaths were reported on Thursday, marking the sixth time in eight days, the state has surpassed 100. This period has become the deadliest for the state since the pandemic began in March last year, with 846 deaths on January 21.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the state did not register 846 deaths until almost three months had passed.
“In the last week, half, one of the days we had the highest number of deaths in our hospital during the entire pandemic,” said Dr. Brian Burrows, director of the regional hospital’s emergency department. Duke, of Durham.
“The hard part is seeing people who aren’t with loved ones when they’re on their last breath,” Burrows said. “You have people who are too sick to hold one iPad to talk to their families. “
La WakeMed in Raleigh, specialist in lung and critical care Dr. Sachin Patel said death certificates are being collected.
“We will have a day when almost four people will pass – some of them older, others young enough to be our brothers and sisters,” Patel said.
Eighty-three percent of deaths so far have been people over the age of 65. This group is now at the forefront of vaccinations against the virus. Less than 4% of deaths were in people under 50 years of age.
However, Burrows said, the virus can hit people we would not expect.
“When you see someone your age when you are intubated for this virus, you think, ‘Oh, my God,'” he said.
The number of new COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations has stabilized in recent days, after rising in early January after the holidays, when many people ignored the advice of public health officials to avoid traveling and gathering with family and friends.
The 3,238 people who were treated for the virus in North Carolina hospitals on Thursday were the lowest since December 27, and the seven-day average of 3,361 patients at COVID-19 Hospital is the lowest since New Year’s Day.
About 7.9% of coronavirus tests reported on Thursday were positive, which is the lowest level in more than two months.
Another 6,490 new coronavirus cases were reported Thursday across the state, but the seven-day continuous average of new cases fell from 8,654 a day on Jan. 12 to 5,843 a day now, marking the first time since Jan. 1 that the average it was less than 6,000 a day.
“It was predicted and, unfortunately, I was right: cases have increased, hospitalizations have increased, and deaths have also increased,” said Rachel Roper, an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of East Carolina. .
Dr. Shannon Carson, head of the lung disease and critical care medicine division at UNC School of Medicine, said the virus-related deaths are the final metric that grows after infections and hospitalizations.
“After a week or two, they may need to be hospitalized,” Carson said, adding that someone could be moved to an intensive care unit after four or five days in the hospital. “Nearly 30 percent of them, if they reach the intensive care unit, will not survive hospitalization.”
“COVID cases can be in [hospitals] for weeks and can be on fans for weeks – and in some cases I’ve heard months – and then people can die pretty much longer after they get infected, “Roper said.
Patel said people need to understand how dangerous the virus can be.
“This is far from over,” he said. “We are really in the middle of it and now it will get worse in March.”