Is the COVID-19 situation in North Carolina getting better, or worse?
New numbers released Wednesday by the NC Department of Health and Human Services suggest the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
For the second straight week, North Carolina saw a slight drop in confirmed COVID cases: 29,670 confirmed cases last week, down about 3000 from the week before. Officials say that metric is less reliable now, though, as many residents now use home self-testing kits that don’t get reported to the health department.
Instead, health officials look to COVID particles found in wastewater, which can be a more reliable metric of how widespread the virus is in a particular community. Last week, state officials found 26.1 million COVID particles in wastewater per person, a 13 percent increase from the week prior. In general, though, this number has been mostly unchanged through the summer: the state also found 26 million particles per person at the beginning of June.
View the North Carolina COVID-19 Dashboard, from the Department of Health and Human Services.
State health officials also continue to monitor COVID-related hospitalizations. Last week, 1,354 North Carolinians were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19; that’s virtually unchanged from the week before, a positive sign after five straight weeks of increasing hospitalizations.
Officials warn that the hospitalization count is also imperfect: it includes everyone admitted to the hospital who is COVID-positive, regardless of whether they’re admitted for COVID or another reason. Therefore, the state also tracks the percentage of emergency department visits that are specifically for COVID-like symptoms – and that number saw a notable drop last week, from 8 percent to 6.6 percent.
Health officials continue to urge all residents to continue taking basic COVID precautions, including mask-wearing in crowded indoor spaces, isolating when sick, and staying up to date on COVID vaccines. Orange County is far and away the most vaccinated county in North Carolina: 66 percent of Orange County residents have been vaccinated with at least one booster dose. Durham County is in second place, with 56 percent.
Featured image from the COVID-19 dashboard at NCDHHS.gov.
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