ER visits for COVID symptoms, hospital admissions for COVID-19 decline for three consecutive weeks

Data released Wednesday by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services shows emergency room visits for COVID-19 symptoms are down for the third consecutive week.

For the week ending on Aug. 20, about 5.8% of the state’s emergency room visits were for COVID-like symptoms. The figure was 7.5% for the week ending on Aug. 6 and 6.6% for the week ending on Aug. 13.

Hospital admissions are down over a three-week span too:

In the past year, state data shows the highest hospital admissions came when 4,285 patients with COVID-19 were admitted on the week ending on Jan. 29, 2022. Two weeks before that, the state had its highest number of reported cases by week based on specimen collection with 235,608 COVID cases reported.

State data shows COVID-19 virus particles found in wastewater are 28% lower than in the previous week.

The data shows the state had 20.4 million viral gene copies per person found in wastewater on the week ending Aug. 17. That’s down from 28.2 million found in the week ending Aug. 10.

For the week ending on Aug. 20, the state had 21,567 COVID-19 cases reported. The week before North Carolina had 26,840 COVID-19 cases reported.

State data shows 60% of the total vaccinated population has at least one booster shot. Of those eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination, 77% have had at least one dose.

North Carolina has 62 of its 100 counties with a high risk of illness and a strain on the health care system due to COVID.

Wake and Cumberland counties have a medium level of community spread and Durham County has a high level.