ASHEVILLE, NC – June 14, 2023 – The COVID-19 metrics are on the CDC’s COVID Dashboard. Weekly data from the week ending on June 3^rd indicate:

• Hospital admissions are at a low level in almost every county in North Carolina and almost 100% of the counties in the U.S. Buncombe County’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have decreased
• There were fewer than 10 deaths due to COVID last week in North Carolina, the lowest level of 6 groups.
• Emergency room visits for COVID-19 are minimal in North Carolina

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

• The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is at a yellow level representing the middle level of 5 groups. Down 1 level from last week.
• The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is unchanged from last week. It is at the highest positive rate of change of 5 possible levels, over the past 15 days.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wants everyone to know that:

• COVID-19 can affect people differently. Some people have mild symptoms like a cold and others have more severe symptoms like a bad case of the flu. Some effects can be long-lasting.
• Older adults and immunocompromised people are at a higher risk of developing severe illness and being hospitalized. The CDC recommends that people in these groups get an updated COVID-19 bivalent booster because it gives added protection.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends:

• Stay up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccines
• For extra protection, wear an efficient medical grade mask
• People who are positive for COVID-19 or do not feel well should stay home
• People with any COVID symptoms should get tested
• If you test positive, your doctor may recommend medical treatment

More and more Americans have developed some immunity to COVID-19 from immunizations and previous infection. New variants continue to infect people with the most at-risk groups more susceptible to severe illness.

 

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

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

ATLANTA, GA – May 26, 2023 –  On May 26^th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that at least 181 people who attended a CDC-run conference in April had come down with a COVID-19 infection. No one has been hospitalized at the time of the announcement.

The CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) had a 4-day conference from April 24-27 at a hotel in Atlanta. This was the first in-person meeting for this group in 4 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The group identifies and fights outbreaks of disease. About 1,800 people were in attendance. As reported in the Washington Post, attendees said that the conference was crowded. Many of the meetings were in small rooms. There was much socializing. Most everyone who got sick was younger than 65.

The CDC conducted a survey on May 5-12 of all in-person attendees with an 80% response rate. 70% of people who responded to the survey said that they did not wear a face mask. More than half of those who tested positive had no prior COVID infection. Almost all of the responders had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine. One in four of the people who tested positive were treated with antiviral medication. There was a higher risk of getting infected for people who were at the meeting for 3 days or longer compared with those who attended 2 days or less.

The national public health COVID-19 emergency may have ended on May 11^th, however, the virus is still with us and is not going away anytime soon. COVID precautions should be considered if people are going to be attending in-person conferences and plan travel this summer. COVID-19 transmission risk-reducing measures include: optimizing indoor air quality, staying outside as much as possible, reducing the size of crowds, and wearing high quality medical masks like N95 and KN95 styles when indoors and in crowds.

William Schaffner, an infectious disease physician at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said “this outbreak dramatically illustrates that if the circumstances are right, this virus can really spread to a lot of people.”

 

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