Local News

With COVID hospitalizations at a record, NC asks FEMA to send more staff

North Carolina had a record 4,867 people in hospitals with COVID-19 on Friday, a record that has been climbing daily since the beginning of the year.

Posted 2022-01-21T15:52:38+00:00 - Updated 2022-01-21T17:17:45+00:00

Triangle hospitals face COVID and weather challenges

Ali Ingersoll, WRAL investigative data reporter,

and

Jodi Leese Glusco, WRAL director of digital content

North Carolina had a record 4,867 people in hospitals with COVID-19 on Friday, a record that has been climbing daily since the beginning of the year.

The state Department of Health and Human Services has reached out to the federal government for help with staffing at strapped hospitals in the Charlotte region.

"The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and North Carolina Emergency Management are requesting federal support for the Charlotte region to help alleviate capacity constraints," the DHHS wrote on Friday.

Atrium Health, the state's largest health provider, is above capacity and running out of ways to stretch an already-reduced staff to care for the growing number of COVID patients.

DHHS Secretary Kody Kinsely blamed some of the strain on unvaccinated people, who more easily contract COVID-19 and are more likely to suffer complications that require hospitalization.

"The vast majority of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated," Kinsley said. "While we will continue to pull every lever we can to safeguard hospital care, each North Carolinian can do their part by staying up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccinations and wearing a well-fitting mask when around other people as we weather this surge."

North Carolina's COVID-19 numbers

20,037: Deaths in North Carolina of people with COVID-19 through Jan. 20, 2022.

35,395: New cases of COVID-19 reported on Jan. 21, 2022.

4,867: People in North Carolina hospitals with COVID-19 on Jan. 21, 2022.

28,831: Average new cases per day in North Carolina over the past seven days on Jan. 19, 2022.

34.3%: Percentage of tests were showing evidence of the virus on Jan. 21, 2022.

New reported COVID-19 cases, deaths in NC

New laboratory confirmed cases and deaths are based on daily reporting from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services via the agency's COVID-19 dashboard. The dashboard started publishing case counts on March 13 and death counts on March 26. Because these case and death numbers can lag slightly based on the time it takes labs to process tests and health officials to confirm cases, we're also calculating a seven-day rolling average to show the curve of cases. NOTE: This chart now includes cases and deaths identified through antigen testing, which DHHS began reporting on its dashboard on Sept. 25. Read more about the corrections and compare the changes here.

Source: N.C. DHHS
Graphic: Tyler Dukes, WRAL

1,060,747: Cases of COVID reported across the United States on Jan. 18, 2022

2,147,777: COVID cases to date in North Carolina through Jan. 19, 2022.

Total COVID-19 cases, deaths by county

This North Carolina map of COVID-19 cases is updated daily based on cumulative numbers of county-level COVID-19 cases and deaths reported by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Click on or hover over any highlighted county in the map to see details of the cases in that county. Darker shaded counties have the highest number of cases. NOTE: As of Sept. 28, the data on this map includes cases and deaths identified both through PCR and antigen tests.

Source: N.C. DHHS
Graphic: Alex Phillips & Tyler Dukes, WRAL

9: Rank of North Carolina among states with greatest number of reported cases

15: Rank of North Carolina among states by number of coronavirus deaths

59%: Population of North Carolina with either two shots of Pfizer or Moderna or one shot of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.