RALEIGH, N.C. – Clinicians and ER doctors alike on Thursday said they worry North Carolina's COVID-19 numbers will continue to worsen.

Dr. Abhi Mehrotra, the vice chair of operations for UNC's Department of Emergency Medicine, says his hospital has seen a slight increase in COVID-19 cases over the past couple of weeks. Although most of the patients have pre-existing conditions, such as obesity or heart trouble, about 20% have no underlying health issues.

“It's likely that we're there,” he says of a second wave. “About day eight to 10 of disease is when you see patients needing hospitalization. If we follow that out, we should see an increase in the number of hospitalizations coming shortly.”

Dr. Brian Burrows, the medical director at Duke Regional Hospital's emergency department, says he has noticed a similar trend at his hospital.

“We've seen increased admissions and people who are quite sick again,” he says. “It's been quite a long haul.”

According to the state health department, more than 1,100 people have been in the hospital for COVID-19 on any given day since Oct. 11. During the month of September, that figure typically hovered in the 900 range.

Burrows said people don't get admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 unless their symptoms have worsened to the point recovering at home is not enough.

The people who carry out the all-important COVID-19 tests have noticed the same trend. Andreas Linke, a physician assistant who works at several FastMed urgent care clinics, says staff there also are seeing more people show up with coronavirus symptoms. Moreover, tests are coming back positive more frequently in his experience.

“The volume of testing is pretty similar to when we started testing, but the percentage positive results has probably increased,” he says. “A couple of months ago, maybe one in 10 was a positive test, now we're looking at probably two to three as a positive test.”

Many of North Carolina's largest hospitals are nonprofits. As a result, they often have foundations associated with them that accept donations for their needs.

UNC Health spokesperson Phil Bridges says those donations are a big help, even in small amounts.

Examples of such foundations include the Vidant Health Foundation in Greenville, the WakeMed Foundation in Raleigh, the Atrium Health Foundation in Charlotte, the UNC Health Foundation in Chapel Hill and the Appalachian Regional Healthcare Foundation in Boone.