N.C. COVID-19 cases increase by 1,598 in a day; Health officials note changes in hospitalization report as number increases

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services released their daily update involving COVID-19 cases within the state.

Officials had two important notes in regards to how numbers are calculated Friday. They said "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised the criteria for reporting COVID-19 hospitalizations. Previously, the CDC required that hospitals report patients only when they were under isolation precautions, which is typically a maximum of 21 days. Because patients may suffer the effects of COVID-19 for a longer period of time, the CDC now requires that hospitalizations be reported for the entire length of stay. As a result, it is likely that North Carolina will see a one-time increase in hospitalizations and a continued higher number under the new definition."

Health officials also said, "NCDHHS is modifying the time that the data is pulled for the dashboards. As a result, there will be a one-time artificial decrease in the number of tests, cases and deaths on Friday, Nov. 13, 2020 as the data will cover 10 hours as opposed to the standard 24 hours. Future data will cover the standard 24-hour period."

As of Friday there are now 290,802 PCR positive cases and 14,431 antigen positive cases, 1,423 people currently hospitalized and 4,720 COVID-19 related deaths.

That is 1,598 new PCR cases, 181 new daily antigen cases and 14 additional deaths from Thursday.

A total of 4,522,336 total COVID-19 tests have been completed in North Carolina.

Here's the breakdown of confirmed cases in local areas:

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