COVID trends upward, but without testing data it's hard to tell where
For almost two months now, we've been following COVID's rebound as key metrics have been increasing around the state.
The latest data released by NCDHHS on Wednesday shows the virus is likely as prevalent now as it was in early January, according to wastewater surveillance. That's what health officials use to monitor how quickly the virus is spreading given that testing data isn't available any longer.
At this point, it’s unclear how many people in our community have the virus.
"Data and really understanding where people are infected and where waves are going is unaddressed, unfortunately," said Dr. Mario Ramirez, an emergency physician and former White House fellow with Health and Human Services.
Ramirez says there are three pillars to any public health response – data collection, testing and treatment. He says the lag and lack of current data is problematic especially as we see this current surge.
The most recent state data shows 638 people hospitalized in the state with COVID – a 29 percent increase over last week’s data. If we look at the collection period though, it’s for the week ending on Sept. 9 so that’s not a snapshot of what the impact is today.
"As somebody who sees patients in the ER, without having good data about where outbreaks are headed next, it makes it harder to address those other two legs of that trifecta."
Local healthcare providers are suggesting people put previous practices into place again.
"I wear my N95 (mask) in most places where I'm indoors with people," said Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease specialist at UNC.
In the three-plus years he has been treating COVID patients, he hasn’t caught it yet which he attributes to masking regularly and staying up-to-date with boosters.
"Maybe after I get this new vaccine I might be a little more liberal with the mask, but right now I really don’t want to catch COVID," he said.
Wohl said health officials expect numbers to continue trending upward especially now that kids are back to school and the typical respiratory virus season is ramping up.
