Chatham and Orange County are experiencing higher community spread, as reported by the state’s COVID-19 County Alert System on Thursday.

Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mandy Cohen, announced that 86 of North Carolina’s 100 counties are currently red, 13 counties are orange and one is yellow.

“Today’s COVID-19 County Alert System shows that 99 percent of North Carolina counties are now red or orange,” Cohen said. “My secretarial directive remains in place. Please stay home and only leave your home for essential activities like work, school, or to meet your healthcare needs.”

Just two weeks ago, the County Alert System update from January 6 reported 84 red counties, 12 orange counties and 4 yellow counties.

COVID-19 County Alert System from Jan. 6 report (Photo via NCDHHS)

Both Orange and Chatham County were still classified as yellow on January 6. Now, both counties are classified as orange.

Greene County is the only county left in the state with yellow, or significant community spread.

The COVID-19 County Alert System uses metrics informed by the White House Coronavirus Task Force and North Carolina’s key metrics to categorize counties into three tiers:

  1. Yellow: Significant Community Spread
  2. Orange: Substantial Community Spread
  3. Red: Critical Community Spread

The County Alert System uses a combination of three metrics: case rate, the percent of tests that are positive, and hospital impact within the county.

As of January 21, North Carolina has 698,099 reported COVID-19 cases with 525 new cases reported in Orange County and 547 reported in Chatham County over the last 14 days.

Read more about the state’s COVID-19 County Alert System here.

Lead photo via AP/Cliff Owen.

 

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