RALEIGH, N.C. News — It’s been nearly a year since North Carolina had this few COVID-19 cases in a week.
Public health officials reported fewer than 4,000 new cases last week — the first time since April 2022 a weekly total has been that low — and hospital admissions fell by 24 percent according to the update Wednesday from the state Department of Health and Human Services.
There were 20 percent fewer viral particles in sewage during the week of March 12-18 than there were the week before, and a smaller percentage of people going to emergency rooms did so because of COVID symptoms.
NCDHHS reported 3,962 new cases last week, about 250 fewer than last week. It’s the fewest since the first week of April — when there were 2,104.
It also marks the continuation of an encouraging trend: Those weekly case counts have fallen every week during 2023.
The state also says 391 people were admitted to hospitals, down from 516 the week before and the fewest since late April.
NCDHHS says 2.5 percent of visits to ERs last week were to treat symptoms of COVID, down a tenth of a point from the week before.
And the average of 6.8 million particles of the virus found in wastewater was way down from 8.5 million a week earlier and the fewest since mid-November.
The state also added 42 deaths to the total, which increased to 28,517 during the three years of the pandemic.
CBS 17’s Joedy McCreary has been tracking COVID-19 figures since March 2020, compiling data from federal, state, and local sources to deliver a clear snapshot of what the coronavirus situation looks like now and what it could look like in the future.
