Updated March 31, 2022| What’s new this week:
COVID-19 cases in Wake County are mostly flat this week for Raleigh Convergence’s final weekly analysis.
Wake County’s 14-day case rate increased slightly in the last week, is now at 99 cases per 100,000 people. Last week the case rate was 97 cases per 100,000 people.
The percentage of tests that are positive in Wake County is 2.6% as of Monday, the most recent 14-day average available. The previous Monday (March 21) was 2.5%.
The CDC considers Wake County as low COVID-19 community level. Note that the CDC is recently began using different benchmarks for community levels. (More explained below)
An updated COVID Data Tracker shares more of the numbers. The 7-day case rate through Tuesday in Wake County is about 80 cases per 100,000 people. Cases decreased 1.22% over the last 7 days with data through Tuesday.
A further out look at the trend line:
Congregate living facility outbreaks stayed flat at 37 outbreaks in Wake County.
Childcare and K-12 clusters stayed flat at 2 total clusters. Both are at childcare facilities.
NC’s dashboard changes (and how to find the data you’re looking for)
The state dashboard is revised as North Carolina moves to what officials call the “new phase of COVID-19.“
- The overall North Carolina dashboard will now be updated weekly by noon Wednesdays versus daily.
- County- and state-level cases data will be updated Monday-Friday and can now be found here.
- Local testing data with percentage of tests that are positive is now here.
- Additions to the dashboard include surveillance of variants and COVID-19 found in wastewater.
About the CDC’s new community levels
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now measures community risk differently.
By the older standards, Wake County would still be in substantial-level community transmission. But with the new standards, Wake County is considered low.
The new standards measure:
- New COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past 7 days
- The percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients
- Total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days
The old metrics included differences in these levels:
- High community transmission was 100 cases/100,000 people or higher and a percentage of tests that are positive above 10%.
- Substantial-level community transmission was 50-99.99 cases/100,000 people and 8-9.99% positivity of tests.
- Moderate is 10-49.99 cases/100,000 people and 5-7.99% percentage positive of tests.
If one of those metrics is met, it was considered to be in the higher category.
Congregate living outbreaks, clusters and vaccination data
This week, there are 37 announced active congregate living outbreaks in Wake County, according to the state’s dashboard. The total remained the same since last week.
Wake County did not announce any of the new outbreaks in a news release, but you can find the facilities here:
- Tuesday’s state report on congregate living facility outbreaks (Wake County does not share the extent of each outbreak, but you can find those numbers here).
- State prison data.
There are 2 childcare and K-12 clusters in Wake County on the dashboard in total, flat from last week. Both are childcare clusters.
Tuesday’s state report is the most recent full list. NC defines a cluster in a child care or school setting as “a minimum of five positive cases identified through a positive molecular (PCR) or positive antigen test result.”
This week, Durham County has 2 childcare clusters and 5 K-12 clusters on the state report, Orange County has 3 K-12 clusters, and Chatham County has no clusters. Comparable-sized Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) has 1 childcare cluster.
Vaccination percentages: 76% of all Wake County residents are vaccinated with at least one dose. 73% of all Wake County residents are fully vaccinated. Neither number changed this week. The state dashboard doesn’t share information on the percentage of people who received a booster shot. [data]
Raleigh Convergence analyzed local-level data for Wake County for 99 weeks. This is the final update.
Do you have questions about this ZIP code data or the analysis? Email editor@raleighconvergence.com
