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By Brooke Cain

RALEIGH, N.C. _ North Carolina COVID-19 cases increased by more than 1,000 Monday, and the death toll from the disease approached 2,900, according to the state health department.

There were an additional 1,018 COVID-19 cases and seven new related deaths, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported Monday.

At least 177,919 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Monday and 2,897 have died, DHHS reported Monday.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 appeared to decline again, dropping by 65 to 765. But a notice on the DHHS website says the agency has had problems getting complete data from hospitals for the past several days, and that actual hospitalization numbers are likely higher than reported.

“Since Friday, September 4, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has experienced continued technical and submissions issues with hospital systems data, which have been exacerbated by the holiday weekend, resulting in incomplete hospitalization data,” the notice said. “Because the COVID-19 NC Dashboard displays only data that it is received, it is likely that actual hospital numbers are higher than what is on the current dashboard.”

Monday’s hospitalization numbers were based on 78% of hospitals reporting.

The number of completed COVID-19 tests increased by 16,632 Monday to 2,459,582.

That means 5.6% of the tests were positive, close to the goal of 5% or less than state health officials want.

DHHS advises that the data on the COVID-19 dashboard is preliminary and can be adjusted as more reporting is collected. They advise looking at trends over a period of time.

The hospitalizations have continued to drop despite an increase in cases and clusters among students across the state, The News & Observer reported.

Young people are less likely to have underlying health problems that are more likely to require hospitalization, doctors say.

Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious disease specialist at Duke University Health System, said health officials are watching for signs that young people, who may be asymptomatic, may spread it to their parents, grandparents and others who could be at higher risk.

“In those cases, the risk of getting sick enough to need the hospital goes up again,” Wolfe wrote in an email. “So far we have NOT seen that sort of spill-over event to any great extent.”

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