RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Most of North Carolina’s key COVID-19 numbers kept falling.
New cases and hospital admissions each dropped by about 10 percent last week, according to the latest weekly update Wednesday from the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Fewer people showed up at emergency rooms during the week of Jan. 22-28 with symptoms of COVID-19, and the most volatile indicator — the number of viral particles in wastewater — there was a 15 percent increase from the previous week.
It was the third consecutive week with mostly across-the-board drops in those numbers after a modest but brief rise that was likely related to holiday gatherings.
State officials reported another 12,225 new cases last week, about 1,200 fewer than there were the week before and the fourth consecutive week with a drop. That weekly total is the smallest since the first week in December.
The number of patients admitted to hospitals also kept dropping, with the 1,001 the fewest since mid-December. It’s the third straight week with a decline.
And NCDHHS says 4.3 percent of visits to emergency departments were caused by COVID symptoms, down from 4.9 percent a week earlier.
But there are a couple of things to keep an eye on.
The agency counted an average of 19.3 million viral particles per person at wastewater stations across the state, up from 16.8 million a week earlier. That measure is prone to wild swings in both directions but also can be the first sign of a potential surge.
And NCDHHS says only about 15,000 more people received the updated booster shot that targets the omicron subvariant. That kept the share of vaccinated people who have gotten the new booster at 21 percent.
State officials also added another 62 deaths, bringing the total to 28,102.
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.