By Mark Jurkowitz, Outer Banks Voice, published by permission
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ (NCDHHS) new COVID-19 County Alert Map update from May 27 tells the story of the ongoing substantial progress in reducing COVID transmission in the state.
In the new map, none of the state’s 100 counties are coded red, which stands for critical community spread; nine counties are coded in orange (substantial spread); 41 counties are yellow (significant spread); 45 are light yellow (moderate spread); and five counties are colored green, (low community spread).
Since the previous map update on May 13, almost half (41) of North Carolina’s counties have dropped down a tier toward lower spread of the virus while only four have moved upward toward more transmission.
By way of comparison, back in late December, about two-thirds of the state’s counties (65) were coded red for critical spread of COVID-19.
In the newest May 27 model, Hyde County is categorized as green, which represents low community spread of the virus and Dare County is coded as yellow for significant spread.
The NCDHHS’ color coding of counties is based on the rate of cases per population in the past two weeks, the percentage of positive COVID tests in the past two weeks, and “hospital impact,” which includes COVID-related cases and visits along with hospital capacity.
The NCDHHS on Thursday announced more than 80% of adults 65 and older in the state have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
As of May 28, Hyde County Health reports three active cases. The county has logged 687 total cases since the pandemic began last year with 674 recoveries and 10 deaths.
