Asheville FM

The home of Asheville FM, WSFM-LP 103.3

The weekly COVID-19, flu & RSV update: COVID and flu are still around

by

Related Show: Asheville FM News Hour

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

 

ASHEVILLE, NC –  March 6, 2024 – We are past the holiday season peak for respiratory viral infections.

The CDC’s COVID Dashboard for the week ending on February 24th shows:  

  • Hospital admission levels are low in about 80% of the counties in North Carolina, including Buncombe County, and high in 0%. They are low in more than 90% of the counties in the U.S. and high in less than 1%. Admissions have decreased in the U.S., North Carolina and Buncombe County from the previous week.
  • About 3% of the deaths in North Carolina were due to COVID, the 3rd lowest level of 6 groups.
  • Emergency room visits for COVID-19 are low in North Carolina. This is about 2% of all ER visits, the 2nd lowest level of 5 groups

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 February 21st shows:

  • The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is at a red level representing the highest level of 5 groups, currently between the 80th and 100th percentile relative to the past level measured at the same site.
  • The 15-day rate of change of the number of viral gene copies in each water sample has increased from the previous week, between 10% to 99%, the 2nd level of 3 groups for a positive rate of change.

The CDC’s weekly flu surveillance report for the week ending on February 24th indicates that North Carolina is at a moderate level.

The CDC reported that the 3-week average for the percent positivity for RSV PCR tests in North Carolina for the week ending on February 24th shows that it continues to decrease to below 2%.

The North Carolina Respiratory Virus Summary Dashboard for the week ending on February 24th shows that

  • The percentage of emergency room visits for people with respiratory virus symptoms has decreased.
  • COVID and flu hospital admissions have decreased
  • There were more COVID admissions than flu.

 

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