NC sees data delays, lowest coronavirus numbers in two months

The good news: On Monday, North Carolina recorded fewer new cases of the novel coronavirus and fewer deaths than on any day since June 2. On Tuesday, new cases were low again – almost 1,000 lower than they had been over the last seven days.

The bad news: One of the state's leading commercial labs was late in reporting data, meaning the full result was likely much higher, and that total was still unknown by Tuesday afternoon.

The data, usually available around noon on the Department of Health and Humans Services COVID-19 North Carolina Dashboard, was late across the board Monday. By about 4 p.m., the dashboard showed just 626 new cases and four deaths.

On Tuesday, it took until almost 4 p.m. again for the data. The dashboard showed 1,051 new cases and 1,122 people in the hospital.

That dropped the seven-day average of new cases to 1,473, when its peak was over 2,000.

North Carolina Coronavirus dashboard - Maps, charts and data

A DHHS spokeswoman cautioned against taking any single day's numbers out of context. "This data should be viewed over multiple days in order to accommodate for single day fluctuations and reporting anomalies," Kelly Haight Connor, communications manager for DHHS told WRAL Data Trackers.

WRAL News asked the DHHS if they have any theories about the changes this week and what could be driving the numbers down. A spokesperson said more information will be shared Wednesday.