CHARLOTTE — The White House referenced new projections Tuesday that are eye-opening.
Researchers said there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained.
North Carolina will hit a peak for the usage of health resources on April 23, according to The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
At that time, the state will have a shortage of 862 in-patient beds, 954 ventilators and 625 ICU beds.
The state will also see a peak count of daily deaths that day, according to the data. Eighty people are projected to die.
From now until Aug. 4, the metrics show that 2,537 North Carolinians are projected to die from COVID-19.
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South Carolina is expected to hit its peak resource use on April 26.
The data doesn’t show an in-patient bed shortage but it does show a need for 58 ICU beds.
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The state also will need 269 ventilators.
The data projects that South Carolina will hit its peak count of daily deaths in 25 days when 30 South Carolinians will die.
The models predict a total death count of 1,034 people in the Palmetto State between March 31 and Aug. 4.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has activated 180 members of the National Guard. One of its roles will be engineering assessment in case any alternative hospital facilities need to be built in the state.
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