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New COVID Milestones 'Cause For Concern' In North Carolina

Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, speaks during a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, May 28, 2020. Photo courtesy: NC Dept of Public Safety, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Two recent COVID-19 milestones are being described by North Carolina state officials as causes for concern. Wednesday marked the highest number of hospitalizations and the second-highest number of new cases.

Critical decisions on when to open schools and businesses are still days or weeks away. At a press briefing, Governor Cooper and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen stuck to the current situation on the ground: more than 2,000 new cases reported on Wednesday, hospital and ICU bed capacities between 75-80%, and wait times of up to one week for test results.

Cohen says a new national surge in testing means local hospitals are having to contract with commercial labs already stretched beyond capacity by demand from around the country. 

"For example, we work closely with Atrium, with WakeMed, with others who are having supply issues in a myriad of things," says Cohen. "It's like all of the things. So, you fix one and then another hole develops. You make sure you have enough pipettes and then you don't have enough chemical reagents. It's actually a lot of the supply chain is just really tight."

Cohen says that the state continues to conduct roughly 20,000 tests per day. She says federal action is needed to relieve national shortages in critical testing supplies.

For the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here. WFDD wants to hear your stories — connect with us and let us know what you're experiencing.

Before his arrival in the Triad, David had already established himself as a fixture in the Austin, Texas arts scene as a radio host for Classical 89.5 KMFA. During his tenure there, he produced and hosted hundreds of programs including Mind Your Music, The Basics and T.G.I.F. Thank Goodness, It's Familiar, which each won international awards in the Fine Arts Radio Competition. As a radio journalist with 88.5 WFDD, his features have been recognized by the Associated Press, Public Radio News Directors Inc., Catholic Academy of Communication Professionals, and Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas. David has written and produced national stories for NPR, KUSC and CPRN in Los Angeles and conducted interviews for Minnesota Public Radio's Weekend America.

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