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Raleigh, North Carolina – After a spring filled with green and light yellows, orange and red are once again spreading across the map of North Carolina as the coronavirus pandemic hits a new wave in the state.
The Department of Health and Human Services rolled out the county alert map last fall to identify hot spots as the pandemic worsened. The five-tier system uses a mixture of new cases over a two-week period, the percentage of positive viral tests and the impact of hospitals in a county to determine the extent of the virus.
COVID-19 County Alert System
Almost all 100 counties were “red zones,” with critical levels of viral spread, when the pandemic peaked in January with an average of nearly 8,800 cases per day statewide. But as more and more people got vaccinated, the “red and orange areas”, with substantial spread, were gradually replaced by “green areas”, with little spread.
In the latest map, released last Friday, DHHS officials said 40 counties went one level – towards red – while only six fell one level, demonstrating the new surge of the pandemic in North Carolina. North as the Delta variant of the virus spreads.
The state has reported 5,400 other coronavirus infections since Friday, including 2,133 on Saturday, the first time the state has passed 2,000 in one day since April 30. The seven-day moving average is now 1,650 cases per day for the past week.
Columbus, Bladen, Richmond, Robeson and Cumberland counties reported the most new cases per capita in the past two weeks, according to state data.
Richmond County, along the South Carolina board of directors, is the state’s only red zone, while the number of orange zones has grown from one in early July to a dozen, including the counties of Cumberland, Hoke, Lee and Sampson.
Much of the Triangle is part of the 41 “yellow zones”, with significant viral spread. County Durham and areas north of the Triangle are light yellow, with moderate spread.
Nineteen counties were green zones in early July, but that number has dropped to five, all in the western part of the state.
Nearly 950 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in North Carolina, up 51% from a week ago. About a quarter of these patients are in intensive care.
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