Another summer is ahead of us and yet COVID-19 is still here.
dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to President Biden, announced Wednesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
Fauci, 81, has mild symptoms and has been boosted twice, the institute said in a statement.
According to the North Carolina Department of Health, North Carolina is about where it was almost a year ago in terms of hospitalizations and cases.
925 patients were treated for coronavirus in North Carolina hospitals in the week ended June 11, according to data released by the state on Wednesday. Far fewer people were hospitalized compared to the same week in 2021.
The current data is more consistent with July 2021, when cases of the delta variant began to rise.
Newly reported COVID-19 cases, deaths in NC
New casesNew deaths
New laboratory-confirmed cases and deaths are based on daily reports from the NC Department of Health and Human Services via the agency’s COVID-19 dashboard. The dashboard started releasing case counts on March 13 and death counts on March 26. Daily moving average to show the curve of cases. NOTE: This chart now includes cases and deaths identified by antigen testing, which DHHS began reporting on its dashboard on September 25. Read more about the fixes and compare the changes here.
Source: NC DHHS
Graphics: Tyler Dukes, WRAL
In the week ended July 24, 2021, approximately 700 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 and more than 1,000 were hospitalized in the week ended July 31. From there, the numbers only kept rising until they peaked in early September at 2,781 patients.
North Carolina reported 23,211 new cases this week, down 10% from last week. Cases have been declining since peaking at 28,913 on May 21.
Scientists and experts estimate that North Carolina’s current data does not accurately capture the total number of coronavirus cases circulating in the community. Home testing for coronavirus does not have to be reported to the state, meaning state data is unlikely to show many people who have tested positive at home.
North Carolina is seeing about the same number of weekly deaths from COVID-19 as last June. In the week ended June 11, the state reported that 25 people had died from the virus. Last year, 31 people died in the week ended June 19 after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, based at the University of Washington in Seattle, estimates that US COVID-19 cases will peak again in June, although this peak will be short-lived.
Surveys by the KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor show the majority of Americans have returned to their pre-pandemic activities.