At his Tuesday press conference, Governor Roy Cooper announced that the state is introducing a county alert system to identify North Carolina counties with the highest levels of COVID-19 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: yellow, orange and red.

Yellow indicates significant community spread, orange indicates substantial community spread and red indicates critical community spread.

COVID-19 County Alert System, color-coded by the severity of community spread.

Because no one metric provides a complete picture, 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.

Cooper said this system will help North Carolina counties and local governments make decisions about what more can be done to slow the spread of the virus.

“This county alert system shows our viral hotspots,” Cooper said. “But let me be clear, the whole state is experiencing widespread transmission. Cases across the country are surging, forcing states to go backward. Right now our metrics are increasing, not surging. But a surge can happen quickly.”

As of Tuesday, North Carolina is reporting 317,495 total COVID-19 cases with 3,288 new cases, 1,501 people in the hospital and 4,852 deaths.

Cooper said the state may have no choice but to close if these trends continue to worsen.

“Right now, these are strong recommendations,” Cooper said. “However, if our metrics keep moving in the wrong direction, the state could impose additional orders, either at a local or statewide level. As numbers worsen, we need to treat this virus like the deadly threat it still is.”

Last week, the state reduced its indoor gathering limit to 10 people to help mitigate the spread of the virus. Capacity limits remain in place for retail stores, restaurants, entertainment venues and other businesses.

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

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