NC deaths from coronavirus reach 1,400; cases to date top 67,000

Durham and Wake counties both added 100 new cases of coronavirus Thursday, pushing the statewide total to 67,016 cases confirmed since the outbreak began in March.

The number of new coronavirus cases reported in North Carolina Wednesday – 1,843 – set a record. It is the largest number of cases reported on a single day since the outbreak began.

More than half of all cases in the state were reported in June.

In March, the state reported 1,528 cases of coronavirus; In April, that number was 9,316; In May, 17,786 and in June 36,768, or 56% of the total.

Of those, many have relatively mild symptoms, and some people show no symptoms at all. Most of those who have tested positive have since recovered. On Monday, the state reported that 45,538 people have recovered from the virus.

The increase in cases comes along with an increase in testing, and with an expansion of tests to anyone who wants one. July 1 was also a record day in North Carolina for the number of coronavirus tests administered – 32,205. The state has been averaging about 21,500 tests per day, with about 7% of those tests coming back positive.

North Carolina has run almost 1 million coronavirus tests since March.