NC COVID cases declined eight weeks in a row

By George Shaw

Summary

New cases declined in North Carolina for the eighth week in a row to a weekly average last reported in May 2020.  Wake County’s new cases dropped for the second consecutive week and Zip Code 27587 (Wake Forest) decreased for the seventh week.  Although deaths from the virus increased to the highest level in seven weeks, there were only two fatalities in Wake County.  None of the three local areas recorded a death.   The rate of new vaccinations continues to slow.

Key COVID-19 Data

North Carolina’s ratings remain better than most states. They are unchanged from the prior week. The Tar Heel State remained the 14th lowest among the 50 states for the number of cases during the last week as well as the 13th lowest state in deaths per person. It slipped from 26th to 27th in terms of the most number of tests.

New tests in North Carolina are increased 6% vs. a 26% decrease the prior week. This week’s increase primarily reflects delays in counting over the Memorial Day weekend which impacted the data from the prior week.

The number of new cases is down 22% compared to 35% during the prior seven-day period. This represents the eighth week in a row of declining cases. The percentage of positive tests decreased significantly from 3.1% to 2.2% in the last week. Hospitalizations declined from 613 a week before to 550 today.

The number of new cases for the last week was the lowest figure since May 9, 2020.  The corresponding amount of deaths for the prior seven day period is the lowest since mid-July 2020.

However, the number of deaths from COVID-19 in North Carolina was 120. This was the highest amount since the week of April 28.

North Carolina’s County Alert System was last updated on May 27 measuring the two weeks up to May 22.  55 counties moved to a better position and 4 to a worse one during the prior 14 days.  No counties are currently rated red, 9 orange, 41 yellow and 45 counties are coded light yellow. Henderson County was the only county listed as green on May 8.  Although there were five counties with a green rating on May 22, they account for only 2% of the state’s population.

How is Wake County doing compared to the other 99 counties?   Our county’s ranking has improved slightly during the past two weeks.  It currently ranks 67th lowest in the number of new cases (vs. 32nd in the prior period). It is also the 45th highest in percent of positive tests over a two week period (vs. 54th during the prior two week period).  Wake’s share of North Carolina’s cases has slowly declined since May 10.

4.3 million Tar Heels have received their first dose while 3.9 million have their second shots as of June 8.  An additional 312,000 had a vaccine requiring a single shot.  The number of new shots decreased from 148,000 to 134,000 shots administered during the last full week (May 24).  56% of eligible residents of Wake County have received partial doses and 52% have completed their requirements.

New cases in Wake County declined 52% last week compared to a 38% decrease for the prior seven-day period.  The number of new cases in Zip Codes 27587 declined 20% during the last week while those in 27571 decreased 50%.  New cases in Zip Code 27596 (Youngsville) increased from 5 to 14.

There were only two reported deaths from the virus in Wake County during the last week. None of them were in our three towns.

Editor’s note: Our computers did not agree on how to transfer the statistical tables and we are unable to provide them this week.