ASHEVILLE, NC – July 3, 2024 – The winter surge of respiratory infections, like COVID-19, influenza and RSV, has passed. However, over the past 3 years, COVID-19 infections have also surged in August. Therefore, the weekly update will continue to report on COVID-19 and restart influenza and RSV updates in the fall.
The CDC’s COVID Dashboard for the week ending on June 22nd shows:
- Fewer than 10 deaths in North Carolina were due to COVID, the lowest level of 6 groups.
- Emergency department visits for COVID-19 are minimal in North Carolina, less than 1% of all visits. However, there was a moderate increase of almost 20%.
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 June 19th shows:
- The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is between 40-60%, the 3rd level of 5 groups.
- The 15-day rate of change of the number of viral gene copies in each water sample has increased from the previous week to between 1% to 9%, the lowest level of 3 groups with a positive rate of change. However, many of the surrounding counties including Swain, Jackson, and Henderson, have increased from the previous week to between 100% or greater, the highest 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, [email protected]
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