Covid-19 continues to simmer in North Carolina, but has not yet boiled over. Still, the numbers are not going down.
There are four metrics that state officials use to measure the spread of coronavirus.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, says one of those data points is the number of people who show up in the Emergency Room complaining of Covid-like symptoms. It’s the state’s earliest detection mechanism, it continues to go up, and that’s concerning, says Cohen.
So is another key metric:
"The number of new lab-confirmed tests of Covid-19 is still increasing. Today, we have another high number of new cases at 2,160. We want to see this curve flatten and then keep it flat and trending downward, but we aren’t there yet."
The percentage of positive cases is stable but too high, says Cohen. It’s hung steady between 8 and 10%, and she’d like to see the rate of positive tests drop to half that.
The number of people in the hospital for Covid-19 is another metric steadily on the rise. This is a lagging indicator – since those in the hospital were likely infected days or weeks ago.
Cohen says the best way to lower these numbers is for all North Carolinians to follow the three ws: wear a mask, wait six feet apart, and wash hands frequently.