Community News

 

ASHEVILLE, NC – June 3, 2022 – The Buncombe County COVID-19 metrics are on the North Carolina COVID Dashboard. Data from the week ending on June 4 indicate:

• The CDC reports that the risk level for Buncombe County is medium for the week ending June 9^th. For a community at a medium risk level, the CDC recommends:
  1. Wear a mask on public transportation.
  2. You may choose to wear a mask at any time as an additional precaution to protect yourself and others.
  3. If you are at  high risk for severe illness, consider wearing a mask indoors in public and take additional precautions.
• There are 232 cases per 100,000 residents in the last 7 days down from 270 cases from the previous week.
• 66% of the total population have received their full primary vaccination series. This is unchanged for over 3 months
• 64% of people with full primary vaccination series have had at least one booster. This is up from 63% last week.
• The seven-day daily average of COVID-19 hospitalizations and of ICU patients are unchanged over the previous week.
• Wastewater surveillance may provide an early warning before individual testing shows that COVID-19 is spreading. The state dashboard reports that the 15-day rate of change of viral load for the Metropolitan Sewer District for Buncombe County is severely increasing for the time period ending June 1^st. The CDC website reports that the rate of change is severely increasing for the time period ending June 6^th.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends:

• Get vaccinated and boosted when eligible.
• People with any COVID symptoms or exposure to someone with COVID should get tested
• People who are positive for COVID-19 or do not feel well should stay home

Vaccination sites and testing sites can be located through the North Carolina and Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services.

Save your face masks:

• The risk level may rise with a new variant
• A person at high risk for severe illness should speak with their health care provider
• Mask wearing is recommended for persons with a positive test, having symptoms, or exposure to someone with COVID-19
• Effective May 4, 2022, the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services and the CDC recommend wearing masks in health care and long-term care settings. The N95 or KN95 mask offers the best protection. Wear a mask that is well-fitting.

At the most recent Community Update on June 7^th, Buncombe County Public Health Director Stacie Saunders says, “We are beginning to learn how to normalize our lives with COVID-19 likely to be around for the foreseeable future. This means riding out waves of cases with the tools we have like staying up to date of vaccines, utilizing testing options for quick identification, adding on additional precautions like masks and distancing when transmission is higher, and accessing treatment quickly if we are at risk for severe illness. It also means reducing and increasing the level of all of those tools and communications based on level of surges.”

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

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

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

WASHINGTON, DC – June 1, 2022 –  Medicaid expansion was included in the 2010 Affordable Care Act, by raising the low-income threshold, but the Supreme Court ruled that each state had the right to decide instead of the federal government. Thirty-eight states and Washington D.C. have expanded Medicaid either through their state legislature or by voter referendum. All six voter-referendums have passed including in three Republican states. North Carolina is one of the 12 remaining non-expansion states. The legislature has resisted any attempt to pass Medicaid expansion, in spite of strong support by the governor. The North Carolina state legislature had passed a law that disallows voter referendums blocking attempts by voters to circumvent the legislature. However, 75% of North Carolinians (including a majority of Republicans and Democrats) want to improve the health of low-income persons and expand Medicaid according to a 2020 poll.

Medicaid is an essential part of the healthcare safety net and has provided health care access to many people who lost their jobs and health insurance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program currently covers over two million people in North Carolina yet more than one million people, representing almost 13% of the population, do not have health insurance including 30 thousand Buncombe County residents. However, it is very difficult for low-income working adults without children to qualify for coverage. Therefore, expanding Medicaid extends coverage to this group.

According to a recent University of Michigan study, states that have expanded Medicaid enrollment have improved the physical and financial health for low-income persons, reduced uncompensated care; stimulated the economy and created jobs.

 

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

 

RALEIGH, NC – June 1, 2022 –  New health care legislation which includes Medicaid expansion (called House Bill 149) has been passed by the North Carolina State Senate on June 1^st by a near unanimous vote. The measure has been sent to the House for consideration. The income threshold for Medicaid coverage would increase from 100% to 138% of the federal poverty guidelines and provide health care access for up to 600 thousand uninsured low-income people and families. Republican Phil Berger, the highest-ranking officer of the Senate, strongly supports Medicaid expansion. He cites the durability of the federal promise to defray the state’s cost for Medicaid expansion by 90% and recent improvements in how Medicaid is administered. The House Republican leader Tim Moore, does not feel that there is sufficient Republican support so the bill may not be filed. The House would have to approve the bill before heading to Governor Cooper for his signature. The Governor is a long-time supporter of expanding Medicaid. He said, “I believe that we’re getting closer than ever to an agreement.”

The proposal eliminates the certificate of need law, covers telehealth services, prevents surprise medical bills from out-of-network providers, and allows advanced practice registered nurses to provide patient care without physician supervision. The state’s cost for expanding Medicaid would be covered by hospital assessments and the expansion would end if the federal government reduces state subsidies.

Erica Smith Palmer, the Executive Director of Care4Carolina, a nonprofit organization that advocates for expanding access to healthcare in North Carolina, notes “We look forward to making 2022 the year we close the coverage gap for all those without an affordable option for health insurance.”

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

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

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

ASHEVILLE, NC – June 3, 2022 – The Buncombe County COVID-19 metrics are on the North Carolina COVID Dashboard. Data from the week ending on June 1 indicate:

• The CDC reports that the risk level for Buncombe County is medium for the week ending June 2^nd. The risk is higher than last week when there was low risk. For a community at a medium risk level, the CDC recommends:
  • Wear a mask on public transportation.
  • You may choose to wear a mask at any time as an additional precaution to protect yourself and others.
  • If you are at high risk for severe illness, consider wearing a mask indoors in public and take additional precautions.
• There are 270 cases per 100,000 residents in the last 7 days down from 306 cases from the previous week.
• 66% of the total population have received their full primary vaccination series. This is unchanged for over 3 months
• 63% of people with full primary vaccination series have had at least one booster. This is up from 62% last week.
• The seven-day daily average of COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased by 18% and of ICU patients are unchanged over the previous week.
• Wastewater surveillance may provide an early warning before individual testing shows that COVID-19 is spreading. The state dashboard reports that the 15-day rate of change of viral load for the Metropolitan Sewer District for Buncombe County is moderately increasing for the time period ending May 25^th. The CDC website reports that the rate of change is severely increasing for the time period ending May 30^th.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends:

• Get vaccinated and boosted when eligible.
• People with any COVID symptoms or exposure to someone with COVID should get tested
• People who are positive for COVID-19 or do not feel well should stay home

Vaccination sites and testing sites can be located through the North Carolina and Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services.

Save your face masks:

• The risk level may rise with a new variant
• A person at high risk for severe illness should speak with their health care provider
• Mask wearing is recommended for persons with a positive test, having symptoms, or exposure to someone with COVID-19
• Effective May 4, 2022, the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services and the CDC recommend wearing masks in health care and long-term care settings. The N95 or KN95 mask offers the best protection. Wear a mask that is well-fitting.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

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

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

ASHEVILLE, NC – June 1, 2022 – North Carolina water quality officials have reported that a 19-mile section of the French Broad River from Long Shoals Road to Craggy Dam in Buncombe County is “impaired” because of elevated E. Coli bacteria levels found during recent testing. In her 1955 book The French Broad, the American writer Wilma Dykeman described how many years of dumping untreated sewage and industrial waste into the waterway had created a dirty, smelly river that she described as “too thick to drink, too thin to plow.” After the Clean Water Act of 1972, the work of many nonprofit organizations and volunteers improved the river’s water quality.

Today, the river does not appear healthy, described as a brown color, a clear sign of the sediment and other pollutants running through the waterway. The French Broad River has elevated levels of E. Coli bacteria from sewer and septic system leaks, cattle accessing streams, and stormwater runoff from animal agricultural operations and fields. Booming construction and development, more frequent heavy rains due to climate change, and an aging stormwater system result in more runoff from urban areas, more sewer overflows, and increased waterway sediment. A large fuel spill in 2018 has also adversely affected its water quality.

In 2002, the French Broad River was moved up to Class B standards that include swimming. You can access an up-to-date French Broad River water quality report this summer on the SwimGuide.org website and smartphone app. Hartwell Carson, the nonprofit MountainTrue’s French Broad Riverkeeper, explains that “We test for E. coli bacteria so that people know when and where it’s safe to swim.”

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

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

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

The federal Clean Water Act was passed by Congress in 1972. It establishes the regulations for the discharges of pollutants and regulating water quality standards for surface waters. It’s first goal is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biologic integrity of our waters. The second goal provides for the protection and nurturing of fish and wildlife and support recreation in and on the water. Water quality standards are based on risk to human health and the environment. The Division of Water Resources is required by the Clean Water Act to release a list of impaired streams every two years and submit it to the Environmental Protection Agency for approval. The water quality standard is based on a waterway’s overall classification. By definition, the higher classification has higher water quality standards. Each state defines the best uses to be protected within waters, and sets water quality standards to protect those uses. All waters must meet Class C standards, which address fishing, wading, boating and other uses where human body contact is “infrequent.” Class B standards for rivers and streams is for primary recreational activities that include swimming, skin diving, water skiing and similar uses where body contact with water is considered frequent.

 

E. coli, a fecal coliform bacteria, is a reliable indicator of the presence of other bacteria and pathogens that are harmful to human health. Contact with or consumption of contaminated water can cause gastrointestinal illness, skin, ear, respiratory, eye, neurologic, and wound infections. The most commonly reported symptoms are stomach cramps, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and low-grade fever.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

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

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour