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The weekly COVID-19 update: The August surge is here. Can wastewater predict the future?

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ASHEVILLE, NC – August 14, 2024 – The winter surge of respiratory infections, like COVID-19, has passed. However, over the past 3 years, COVID-19 infections have also surged in August.

The CDC’s COVID Dashboard for the week ending on August 3rd shows:  

  • Less than 2% of the deaths in North Carolina were due to COVID, the 2nd lowest level of 6 groups. They have decreased since last week.
  • Emergency department visits for COVID-19 are moderate in North Carolina, between 3.0-4.0% of all visits. They have increased more than 20% since last week.

Wastewater monitoring can be used to provide early warning for COVID outbreaks. The Buncombe & Henderson counties wastewater data on the North Carolina COVID Dashboard for the week ending on July 31st shows:

  • The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is between 80-100%, the highest level of 5 groups.
  • The 15-day rate of change of the number of viral gene copies in each water sample has decreased from the previous week to between -9-0%, the mildest level of 2 groups with a negative rate of change.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]


More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

Twin Leaf Brewery interview

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Written by Kyle C.

On Tuesday, August 20th, on his show B Sides & Brews, Buffalo Mike interviewed Tim Weber, the owner and head brewer of Twin Leaf Brewery. Tim was happy to share his background and introduction to brewing as well as his more recent endeavors. He has been a professional brewer for 10 years and was a homebrewer for about 8 before that. Twin Leaf opened in March 2014 after Tim moved to Asheville in 2012.

Tim’s beer journey began in college. He majored in engineering but found himself enrolled in a microbiology lab course. The professor talked about working in a yeast lab, and Tim’s curiosity was piqued. He found a summer job at Iron Hill Brewery in Delaware, and by 2006 he was hooked. He bought his own brewing equipment and made brewing his life. He only brewed on weekends, but Tim didn’t own a TV, so all his spare time was spent reading and learning about his craft. He started, as most people do, on the stove, and over the years used his engineering background to build more and more technologies. Eventually, Tim had himself a homebrew robot that did most of his process for him!

Tim’s very first brew was a Hefeweizen. He said he “did almost everything wrong, but I loved it anyway.” His favorite beer style is a German pilsner. He is a beekeeper on the side and says of his hobbies—beer and bees—“the more you learn about them, the more you realize you don’t know what you’re doing.”

To hear the full interview with Twin Leaf’s Tim Weber, listen here at the archives.


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Commentary: An open letter to Congressman Edwards on improving health care in western North Carolina

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ASHEVILLE, NC – August 4, 2024 –

 

Dear Representative Edwards:

In your recent August 4th opinion piece in the Asheville Citizen-Times, you said that “The American people deserve affordable, accessible, and high quality health care options, but that’s not what Western North Carolina residents are receiving today.” Your proposed solution was to leverage your position on the Congressional House Budget Committee to promote federal policies that address these deficiencies. This assessment sounds quite reasonable. However, this approach does not provide any details of how to fix health care in western North Carolina.. Therefore, I would like to offer some additional measures to achieve these lofty health care goals.

In your article, you mentioned that there is a surge in hospital mergers in the United States, “resulting in increased federal spending and higher costs for patients.” You said that after the Hospital Corporation of America acquired Mission hospital system in 2019, the average list prices in this region doubled to an average of 33% a year.

A recent landmark North Carolina Medicaid expansion bill supported by Governor Cooper and the General Assembly has made health care more accessible in North Carolina. Since it took effect on December 1st, more than 500 thousand people have access to health care so far, according to the latest update of the NC Medicaid Expansion Enrollment Dashboard on July 3rd. According to the 2022 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, and prior to Medicaid expansion, there were almost 1 million uninsured North Carolinians, more than 9% of the population and higher than the national average of 8%.

Measuring quality of care is very difficult. As you know, our regional health care system is monopolized by the Mission Hospital Health Care System, which is owned by the Hospital Corporation of America, the largest for-profit health care system in the United States. The hospital’s quality of care was questioned by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Mission Hospital was warned that it would no longer be eligible to participate in the care of Medicare and Medicaid patients until it addressed certain stipulated deficiencies in meeting quality of care standards. Loss of CMS certification would be catastrophic for health care in our community.

As our district’s representative in the House of Representatives, you feel that the solution is to use your position to promote “policies and funding that disincentivize consolidation and promote greater choice, more affordable access and better quality of care for the citizens of NC-11 and beyond.”

While your assessment seems reasonable, I would like to make some additional suggestions to make health care more affordable, accessible, and of high quality. Some of these measures can be achieved through federal regulations; others may require state legislation. However, through your leadership, they can be attained. Here’s my list:

  • Rescind the Certificate of Need (CON) laws to encourage competition (as you have suggested as the solution to reach affordability)
  • Close the health care access gap between persons eligible for Medicaid Expansion and the Health Insurance Marketplace by increasing the federal subsidies to the latter program so that more people can afford to enroll
  • Expand federal subsidies for medical provider training programs, like physician residency programs that already receive federal grants, so that there are more high quality and well-trained providers for health care

I hope that these 3 specific suggestions can help you to help create a healthier region.

Regards,

 

Dick Needleman, M.D., M.P.H.

Health Reporter, 103.3 Asheville FM

Retired orthopedic surgeon

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]


More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

The weekly COVID-19 update: Will there be a surge in August? Can wastewater predict the future?

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ASHEVILLE, NC – August 7, 2024 – The winter surge of respiratory infections, like COVID-19, has passed. However, over the past 3 years, COVID-19 infections have also surged in August.

The CDC’s COVID Dashboard for the week ending on July 27th shows:  

  • Less than 2% of the deaths in North Carolina were due to COVID, the 2nd lowest level of 6 groups.
  • Emergency department visits for COVID-19 are low in North Carolina, less than 3.0% of all visits. They have increased more than 30% since last week.

Wastewater monitoring can be used to provide early warning for COVID outbreaks. The Buncombe & Henderson counties wastewater data on the North Carolina COVID Dashboard for the week ending on July 24th shows:

  • The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is between 80-100%, the highest level of 5 groups.
  • The 15-day rate of change of the number of viral gene copies in each water sample has increased from the previous week to between 10-99%, the 2nd highest level of 3 groups with a positive rate of change.

The increasing numbers may predict a COVID infection surge in August, like in years past.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]


More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

Exciting News at 12 Baskets!

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Written By Malachi Mena 

12 Baskets Café is excited to share new opportunities and an expansion of community services. They have been working even harder than usual to provide Asheville citizens with more access to food!

On AFM News Hour, Patrick Battle spoke with Ben Williamson of the Asheville Poverty Initiative about major service expansions at 12 Baskets. Williamson began by sharing some background on 12 Baskets Café. They opened in 2016 and served lunch every weekday. Now they are excited to sell groceries along with meals, four days a week. (they’re closed on Wednesdays). This is a major shift for the café, as they were previously only able to serve strictly meals or strictly groceries each day. Williamson said that the café staff and volunteers have worked diligently at doubling access to food for the community. Through a process of trial and error, they are now serving record numbers!

Throughout all of this, 12 Baskets has strived to maintain its community building, fulfilling the primary part of their mission. Williamson said, “We just want people to come in and have a seat, and be waited on, and be welcomed, and be included . . .” 12 Baskets wants to invite the community to stop by and enjoy a hot meal, grab some food to go, and sign up for groceries. You can stop and chat with new faces and enjoy the café’s garden. There’s a lot going on at 12 Baskets and they would love for people to be a part of it! They welcome all! 

All these exciting changes come with expenses. In order to raise money, the Asheville Poverty Initiative will be hosting Westival: A Food Experience for the West of Us on September 28 from 4PM to 8PM. The fundraiser will be held at Archetype Brewing and will feature twelve West Asheville-based food providers. Restaurants such as Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack and West Village Market will take part! The Asheville Poverty Initiative really wanted to be community inclusive and child friendly to celebrate West Asheville. 

For more information on 12 Baskets Café and the Asheville Poverty Initiative, check out https://www.ashevillepovertyinitiative.org/  and listen to the latest episode of AFM News Hour. 


More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

Latch AVL This Weekend!

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Written By Malachi Mena

The Buncombe County Breastfeeding Coalition has an exciting event coming up this weekend at Rabbit Rabbit. Latch AVL will take place on Saturday at 9AM with lots of unique opportunities and activities!

On AFM News Hour, I got the chance to speak to Sapphire DeBellot and Marcelle Crago about the Buncombe County Breastfeeding Coalition. Marcelle explained that the coalition is focused on helping pregnant and postpartum families find community resources around breastfeeding and chestfeeding. Sapphire added that it’s a way for different organizations to come together and help make Asheville a better breastfeeding community.

Marcelle went on to share that while some may think breast/chestfeeding is natural or comes easy, it is a learned skill. The Buncombe County Breastfeeding Coalition is trying to raise awareness and help connect parents and guardians with lactation consultants and the like, to provide skills education and assistance..

Curious about their use of the word chestfeeding, I asked Sapphire and Marcelle to explain how it differed from breastfeeding. The two clarified that chestfeeding was inclusive terminology, as some folks are transgender, non-binary, or identify as male and have the ability to feed. Sapphire and Marcelle said they use the term to create a more welcoming environment to all. Marcelle also stated that there are families that struggle with the social pressure of breastfeeding, as it has become very sexualized. She said that some may not want to feed the baby at their chest, and they bottle feed instead.

The two were very excited to discuss their upcoming event, Latch AVL, on August 3rd at Rabbit Rabbit. It will take place from 9AM to 1PM. People can expect lots of activities, including a raffle and a community latch-on. Chiropractors and therapists will also be on site, along with lots of nonprofits and other organizations, including Mount Zion Community Development. As Mount Zion’s Outreach Coordinator, Sapphire spoke about the organization’s initiative to promote breastfeeding education through their NAF program, which has been around since 1998. NAF stands for Nurturing Asheville & Area Families and it strives to support African American pregnant and postpartum women in Buncombe, Madison, and Henderson Counties. She explained that they are able to provide support through events like Latch AVL.

After a year of planning this event, Sapphire and Marcelle hope that families throughout town will show up and support the cause. They’re excited to see the turnout!

For more on the event visit https://buncombepfc.org/latchavl/ and check out the latest episode of AFM News Hour.

You can listen to the full interview here:


More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour