NC tops 50,000 coronavirus cases

Coronavirus has infected more than 50,000 people in North Carolina.

Posted 7:37 p.m. Jun 16, 2020 — Updated 1:37 a.m. Jun 20, 2020

RALEIGH, N.C. — Coronavirus has infected more than 50,000 people in North Carolina.

After taking eight weeks to record it's first 10,000 cases, the intervals have grown shorter over each succeeding 10,000 – three weeks to get to 20,000, two to get to 30,000 and eight days each to get to 40,000 and now 50,000.

The numbers don't appear to be slowing down any time soon, either.

The number of new cases recorded Friday – 1,652 – was the second-greatest daily increase since the outbreak began. About 9 percent of the tests were positive, and the state has seen 8-10 percent positive results in recent weeks, up from the 7 percent range last month.

The state also hit a record for the fourth day in a row in the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19, the illness associated with the virus. That total bounced to 871, up 15 from the day before.

That makes six days out of the past seven that the number of hospitalizations reached a new high.

Many people who contract the coronavirus show no symptoms. Others suffer what feels like a wicked case of the flu. But for 1,235 in North Carolina, the coronavirus has been fatal.

Because state guidance has limited the number of people tested to those with symptoms, those in high-risk positions like medical or correctional facilities, those with a known exposure and, more recently, those who have been in a crowd, the true spread of the virus is impossible to measure.

Of the state's 50,000 reported cases, about 30,000 are believed to have recovered.

Most cases are young or middle-age adults

Also according to North Carolina's numbers, almost half of all people who have tested positive, 45 percent, are between 25 and 49. Twenty percent are 24 and under, but people in that age group make up basically 0 percent of all deaths.

Just 7 percent of people with the virus are over 75, but more than 70 percent of state deaths are in that age group.

Cases trending upward, deaths flatten curve

Over the past seven days, North Carolina's curve of cases has been just about flat, with an average of 1,227 new cases per day.

The state has pretty much flattened the curve of deaths from the novel coronavirus. Over the past seven days, an average of 15 people per day have lost their lives. Overall, 1,262 people have died in North Carolina during the pandemic.

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