RALEIGH, N.C. — Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Roy Cooper and the North Carolina Coronavirus Task Force gave an update on the state's COVID-19 trends.
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported the state surpassed 446,000 cases, and that more than 5,800 people have died so far from the virus.
North Carolina received its first shipments of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine this week. Cooper said the first in the country COVID-19 vaccine arrived at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital early Monday morning. Atrium and Duke hospitals also got doses Monday.
“Our North Carolina team spent months preparing for this moment and now we are moving our vaccination plan into action,” Cooper explained.
"It was a historic and emotional day for many, as we finally have a new tool to protect people from this virus," said Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
Cooper said eight more hospitals got shipments of the vaccine Tuesday, and 42 hospitals were set to get vaccines on Thursday.
Cooper said healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients along with the staff and residents of long-term care facilities are up first to get the vaccine if they want it.
But he worries about supplies.
“We’ve been told that each Friday we will get information about the following week's shipment, giving the state just a few hours to direct where those shipments will go,” he said.
Copper said he asked Vice President Mike Pence for more time to plan for vaccine distribution. He said Pence said they would work on it.
Up next is the FDA possibly approving the Moderna vaccine. Cooper said if that happens, the state is likely to get more than 170,000 doses by next week.
“Just over half of those will go to long-term care facilities,” he explained. We expect them to be getting vaccinated by the end of the month. Beyond that, questions remain.”
Some North Carolina residents said they don’t trust the vaccine and don’t plan on getting it.
“It’s taking how many years to perfect cancer and all of these other diseases out there then what six months they got a vaccine, I’m good,” said Elijah Lehr. “I can’t trust it. It’s not trustworthy in my book. Everything that has gone on with it. They need more human bodies to try it on.”
Earlier that day, cases in North Carolina had reached 446,601 instances and 5,881 deaths. That's a cumulative count, since March.
North Carolina saw a single-day increase of 5,236 cases Tuesday.
Cohen said there had been an alarming influx of cases in recent days.
"We are experiencing a staggering increase in our pandemic trends, and I am particularly worried about our hospital capacity," she said.
Cohen explained one month ago, there were 1,395 people in hospitals with COVID-19. On Tuesday, there were 2,735 people in the same situation.
Likewise, on November 15, there were 350 patients with COVID-19 in the ICU. Now there are 643 COVID-19 patients in ICU.
Before herd immunity is achieved, they reinforced the importance of wearing masks, washing hands, and standing six feet apart from people who don't live with you.
Cohen asked people to stay home for the holiday season if it's at all possible.
Both Cooper and Cohen called for more notice from the federal government about how many doses the state would receive each week. They said they are notified each Friday of the dose availability, and then have to quickly coordinate where those vaccines should be sent.
In the meantime, Cooper announced that North Carolina is offering more than 300 free COVID-19 testing events before the holidays. A list of testing locations is available on the NC DHHS website.