56% of NC deaths stem from nursing homes, but virus can be deadly, dangerous for any age
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in North Carolina continues to set records, hitting 812 people on Thursday.
While the figure is up 75 percent from a month ago, public health experts say it will likely continue to rise in the coming days and weeks because the effects of resuming many business and social activities and the recent large protests aren't yet reflected in the numbers.
"Increased numbers definitely create a little more anxiety, I think, for me," said Jennifer Norris, whose husband spent 44 days in UNC Medical Center fighting COVID-19.
"I really wouldn’t wish it on anybody," said Jonathan Norris, who is now recovering at home. "I was very close to dying, but at the same time, I guess I had enough fight within myself and the proper care that allowed me to get through it."
Aaron McKethan, senior policy fellow at Duke University's Margolis Center for Health Policy, said North Carolina is still in the "early days" of the coronavirus pandemic.
"We’re certainly not out of the danger zone, so to speak," McKethan said. "In the absence of a vaccine or medicines to treat COVID-19, our hospitals are getting full, and that’s happening more in some parts of the state than others."
Many hospitals have resumed elective surgeries and other procedures, reducing the overall availability of beds as the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations rise, he said.
"Overall, things are tightening," he said. "We still have plenty of room in the aggregate for more hospitalizations, but we need to be very careful how those trends start to be alarming, particularly for certain parts of the state."
The rolling, seven-day average for COVID-19 hospitalizations is 747 per day over the last week, while the rolling average of new coronavirus infections is close to 1,100 a day during that time.
About 12 percent on all COVID-19 cases in the state, or 4,841, stem from nursing homes and residential care faciliites. Grouping prisons and other congregate living settings with that number brings it to 6,534 cases, or 16% of all cases in the state.
Data trackers report 642 people have died from COVID-19 in senior and rehabilitative care facilities, which accounts for 56% of all deaths in the state. While the majority of cases aren't happening in nursing homes, over half of all deaths are.
Health officials warn that anyone can become seriously ill from coronavirus, and while not the majority, young adults and children have died.
Overall, the state has recorded more than 40,000 infections, and more than 1,100 people have died statewide during the pandemic.
McKethan compares virus trends in North Carolina to shifting winds, noting that seemingly dormant areas can quickly become hotspots and vice versa.
"We’re in the cycle of experiencing the consequences of greater reopening, and I don’t mean that in a negative sense," he said. "I support some phased reopening, for sure, but this is the two- to three-week effect of that."
Jonathan Norris said the virus "is for real."
"There was a period that I don’t remember, when I was on a ventilator for a couple of weeks," he said.
"Wear a mask. Try to distance yourself when you can," he added. "The coronavirus is very much real. For people that don’t think that it is, I would hate for them to have to experience this."
