While NC COVID cases continue to drop, cases are 8x times higher compared to last June

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service released its weekly report Wednesday about the status of coronavirus. Nearly 25,000 new cases were reported in the week ending on Saturday — which is a decrease from the 27,000 reported the week before.

While cases now are much lower than what they were months ago during coronavirus' omicron variant surge in the winter, cases are still much higher this June when compared to last June. In the week ending on June 5, 2021, North Carolina only reported 3,138 coronavirus cases.

From June until mid-July last year, less than 10,000 cases were reported each week. North Carolina last saw numbers that low from March to April, but since then, cases have remain elevated.

The number of people admitted to the hospital for coronavirus has increased by 13% this week compared to last week, but is still fewer than 1,000 for the whole week. Hospitalizations were about the same as this time last June, according to the state's 7-day average.

Scientists estimate that the amount of COVID-19 spreading within the community is likely far higher than what is being reported due to the prevalence of at-home COVID-19 tests, which are not required to be reported to the state. Wastewater data shows that COVID-19 particles found in the water this week were slightly lower when compared to last week, but by only 3%.

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The week ending on June 4 was the tenth straight week that the state's wastewater particle detection system showed higher levels of COVID-19 in the community than its testing did.

More than 10% of all coronavirus cases reported this week were estimated by DHHS to be reinfections.

Durham, Warren, Granville and Person counties are still experiencing high levels of community spread, according to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.