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'Red zone' back on NC's pandemic map

After a spring filled with green and light yellow, orange and red are again spreading across the North Carolina map as the coronavirus pandemic hits a new surge in the state.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — After a spring filled with green and light yellow, orange and red are again spreading across the North Carolina map as the coronavirus pandemic hits a new surge in the state.
The Department of Health and Human Services rolled out the county alert map last fall to pinpoint hot spots as the pandemic deepened. The five-tier system uses a mix of new cases in a two-week period, the percentage of positive virus tests and hospital impact within a county to determine how widespread the virus is.

Almost all 100 counties were "red zones," with critical levels of viral spread, when the pandemic peaked in January at an average of nearly 8,800 cases a day statewide. But as more people became vaccinated, red and "orange zones," with substantial spread, were gradually replaced by "green zones," with low spread.

In the latest map, issued last Friday, DHHS officials said 40 counties had moved up one tier – toward red – while only six dropped a tier, demonstrating the pandemic's renewed surge in North Carolina as the Delta variant of the virus becomes more widespread.

The state reported another 5,400 coronavirus infections since Friday, including 2,133 on Saturday, the first time the state has topped 2,000 in one day since April 30. The rolling, seven-day average is now at 1,650 cases a day over the last week.

Columbus, Bladen, Richmond, Robeson and Cumberland counties reported the most new cases per capita over the last two weeks, according to state data.

Richmond County, along the South Carolina board, is the lone red zone in the state, while the number of orange zones jumped from one in early July to a dozen, including Cumberland, Hoke, Lee and Sampson counties.

Much of the Triangle is among the 41 "yellow zones," with significant viral spread. Durham County and areas north of the Triangle are in light yellow, with moderate spread.

Nineteen counties were green zones in early July, but that has dropped to five, all in the western part of the state.

Almost 950 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 across North Carolina, up 51 percent from a week ago. About a quarter of those patients are in intensive care.

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