NC flu deaths spike to 95 while hospital visits see decline for flu, RSV and COVID
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — In its latest update, the NC Department of Health and Human Services is showing a clearer picture of how high flu and COVID cases have spiked in the past month.
As of January 6, NCDHHS said its lab-confirmed flu deaths have reached a total of 95, seven of those pediatric deaths. This is a significant jump from the last update which showed 52 total deaths reported in the state through Dec. 30.
The most recent week’s data from Dec. 31-Jan. 6 was the deadliest week yet with 23 adult deaths and two pediatric deaths.
For that same time frame, however, the DHHS reports a decrease in emergency department visits for respiratory viruses, with a decrease seen across all COVID, flu and RSV cases. A reported 17.2% of all visits had symptoms of respiratory virus in this latest week compared to 23.3% the previous week.
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT VISITS FOR RESPIRATORY VIRUSES
Similarly, across all hospital visits outside of the emergency department, a decline of admissions for both flu and COVID were reported. In this latest week, 896 admissions were for COVID-19 and 763 were for flu. The week before these were at 923 and 1,055, respectively.
While hospital numbers were down over the previous week, wastewater numbers told a different story. In monitoring samples of wastewater statewide, NCDHHS has recorded the highest levels seen in the past year in the last two consecutive weeks.
In this latest week, the DHHS said an average of 125.1 million COVID-19 virus particles were found. This is an increase from the prior week when 77.6 million particles were recorded.
Zooming out to how NC compares with the rest of the country, the state is among seven others with the highest respiratory illness levels, putting it above the red and into the purple for “very high.”
For more information and data tracking, visit the NDHHS respiratory virus dashboard.
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