Rate of 'breakthrough' cases in NC remains steady, but vaccinated residents less likely to end up in hospital, die from COVID

But while the so-called "breakthrough" cases accounted 18 percent of all infections last week, the 40,000 or so post-vaccination cases reported between the start of January and the end of August make up only 6 percent of the state's total caseload during that period.

The state reported a total of 5,877 new infections on Friday, and its daily average of 6,015 new cases over the last week is down 12 percent from a week ago.

Yet, the state has gone six weeks in which the rate of positive results on virus tests hasn't dropped below 10 percent. The state's target rate is 5 percent.

Also, for the second day in a row, more than 450 people were admitted to hospitals in North Carolina with COVID-19. On Friday, the state reported 3,756 COVID-19 patients.

North Carolina Coronavirus dashboard - Maps, charts and data

Based on state data from recent weeks, DHHS states that unvaccinated individuals are almost five times as likely to become infected and more than 13 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those who got their shots.

DHHS reported that 97 percent of North Carolinians who died from COVID-19 since January weren't vaccinated.