ASHEVILLE, NC – March 20, 2024 – The CDC’s COVID Dashboard for the week ending on March 9th shows:
- Hospital admission levels are low in 95% of the counties in North Carolina, including Buncombe County, and high in 0%. They are low in more than 95% 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 4% of the deaths in North Carolina were due to COVID, the 3rd highest level of 6 groups.
- Emergency room visits for COVID-19 are low in North Carolina. This is less than 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 March 6th shows:
- The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is at an orange level representing the 2nd highest level of 5 groups, currently between the 60th and 79th 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 decreased from the previous week, between -99% to -10%, the lowest level of 2 groups for a negative rate of change.
The CDC’s weekly flu surveillance report for the week ending on March 9th indicates that North Carolina is at a low level.
The North Carolina Respiratory Virus Summary Dashboard for the week ending on March 9th 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]
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