ASHEVILLE, NC – September 11, 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 31st shows:
- Between 3-4% of the deaths in North Carolina were due to COVID, the 3rd lowest level of 6 groups and increased since last week.
- Emergency department visits for COVID-19 are moderate in North Carolina, between 3-4% of all visits and stable 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 August 28th 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 is between 1 to 9%, the lowest level of 3 groups with a positive rate of change.
Listen to the full report below:
Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, healthyasheville@ashevillefm.org