Special to Iredell Free News

RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) on Saturday reported the state’s highest one-day number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases with 2,462 reported. It is the highest one-day increase to date.

Hospitalizations are also at a record high with 1,093 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

“Record-high numbers like today are concerning,” said NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen. “We all have a responsibility to one another to wear a face covering, avoid crowds and wash our hands often to get our trends going back in the right direction.”

To slow the spread of COVID-19 everyone must practice the 3 Ws – wearing a face covering over your nose and mouth, waiting six feet apart and washing your hands often.

NCDHHS is responding to the pandemic on multiple fronts, including surging testing and contact tracing resources in communities and populations that have been hardest hit by COVID-19. The Department is contracting with two vendors, Vidant Health and Orig3n, Inc., to deploy up to 300 no-cost testing sites for African American, LatinX/Hispanic and American Indian communities that currently have limited testing sites. A full list of community testing events is available on the NCDHHS COVID-19 website.

NCDHHS has also taken action to decrease barriers to COVID-19 testing by issuing a Statewide Standing Order for COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing, as well as a State Health Director Temporary Order on COVID-19 Diagnostic Test Reporting.

Anyone with symptoms or anyone who thinks they have been exposed to COVID-19, whether or not they have symptoms, should be tested for COVID-19. If you think you may need to be tested and would like to find a nearby testing place, go to Check My Symptoms and Find My Testing Place. To find short-term testing events in your community, visit the NCDHHS COVID-19 website.