RALEIGH, N.C. — Editor's Note: Video above addresses the concerning COVID-19 hospitalizations at Cone Health.
The state of North Carolina is introducing a new COVID-19 County Alert System to identify counties with the highest levels of viral spread.
Governor Roy Cooper said the state is at its highest rates of hospitalizations Tuesday and referenced the Triad where it’s a point of concern.
“We’re seeing hospitalizations accelerating in the Triad,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said.
North Carolina has 1,501 people in the hospital with COVID-19.
“By pinpointing counties with high virus transmission and asking everyone in those counties to work with us and do more right now to slow the spread of the virus, we can succeed,” Cooper said. “It can help bring down their case rates, keep their communities safer, save lives and keep their hospital systems working.”
The new COVID-19 County Alert System will use a combination of three metrics: case rate, the percent of tests that are positive, and hospital impact within the county.
The system uses metrics informed by the White House Coronavirus Task Force and North Carolina’s key metrics to categorize counties into three tiers:
Yellow: Significant Community Spread
Orange: Substantial Community Spread
Red: Critical Community Spread
To be assigned to the red or orange tier, a county must meet the threshold for case rate for that tier and the threshold for either percent positive or hospital impact.
Case Rate: The number of new cases in 14 days per 100,000 people
Percent Positive: The percent of tests that are positive over 14 days
Hospital Impact: A composite score based on the impact that COVID-19 has had on hospitals including percent of COVID-19 hospitalizations, COVID-19 related visits to the Emergency Department, staffed open hospital beds, and critical staffing shortages over 14 days.
“It’s going to take all of us working together to avoid tightening restrictions like so many states are now doing,” Cohen said. “The COVID-19 County Alert System gives North Carolinians an easy way to see how their county is doing and know what they can do protect their family and neighbors and slow the spread of this virus.”
The state will update the COVID-19 County Alert System every four weeks.
Here's where Triad counties stand right now. This is based on data gathered between Nov. 1 and Nov. 14.:
- Alamance > YELLOW
- 391.1 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 6.8% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact
- Alleghany > YELLOW
- 386.1 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 7.1% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact
- Caswell > ORANGE
- 380.5 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 8.2% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact
- Davidson > YELOW
- 337.1 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 7.4% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact
- Davie > RED
- 410.8 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 10.4% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact
- Forsyth > ORANGE
- 465.3 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 8.6% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact
- Guilford > YELLOW
- 395.6 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 7.9% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact
- Montgomery > ORANGE
- 250.2 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 8.5% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact
- Randolph > ORANGE
- 483.1 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 9.6% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Moderate hospital impact
- Rockingham > ORANGE
- 445.0 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 8.3% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact
- Stokes > ORANGE
- 414.6 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 6.9% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Moderate hospital impact
- Surry > ORANGE
- 502.9 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 9.9% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Moderate hospital impact
- Wilkes > RED
- 574.5 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 10.5% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact
- Yadkin > ORANGE
- 414.2 cases per 100K people over 14 days
- 8.7% percent positive rate over 14 days
- Low hospital impact