After months of 'low' rankings, Guilford County's COVID-19 risk level is rising

Jun. 9—GREENSBORO — Guilford County is now considered to have a higher risk of infection from COVID-19 than in recent months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Considered to have a "medium" risk level after months of "low" rankings based on CDC metrics, Guilford has seen that level steadily rise in its neighbors to the east and west. Alamance and Forsyth counties rose to "high" risk levels within the past week — and that's while the number of newly reported coronavirus cases has dropped but hospital admissions increased across North Carolina.

Despite the increased risk designation in some counties, North Carolina saw the number of newly reported cases drop to 24,941 during the week ending June 4 — down from 27,552 the previous week, according to a report released Wednesday by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to state data, North Carolina also is seeing more of two omicron subvariants — BA.4 and BA.5 — which account for approximately 13% of all newly reported cases in the United States, according to CDC data.

In a small sampling of positive cases in North Carolina, the BA.4 subvariant was found in just over 1% of cases and BA.5 was detected in nearly 3.4% of cases between May 15 and May 28.

Guilford County health officials aren't aware of any reported local cases attributed to the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. Most positive COVID-19 test results are not checked by labs for subvariants, according to the state.

Locally, public health officials reported 155 new infections for a total of 2,723 active cases on Wednesday — and no new deaths. The daily positivity rate was 13.5%.

In Cone Health hospitals on Wednesday, 47 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus — 28 of which were unvaccinated and 19 fully vaccinated. That compares to a high this year of 335 patients with COVID-19 in Cone Health hospitals on Jan. 26 during the surge of the omicron variant.

Statewide, 833 COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals the week ending June 4, compared to 735 patients the previous week. The high this year was 4,285 coronavirus patients admitted the week ending Jan. 29.

The percentage of all emergency room visits statewide for patients with coronavirus symptoms remains at 5%, according to the state report. That number has slowly increased since it was at 2% for the week ending April 23.

Another metric that health experts are watching closely is the number of COVID-19 virus particles found in wastewater, which has been shown to be an early indicator of how quickly the virus may spread without relying on individual test results.

In the state's latest report, 27.3 million coronavirus particles were found in wastewater samples last week — up from 26.5 million the week prior.

By comparison, 100 million COVID-19 particles were found in wastewater samples in late January during the peak of the omicron surge.

Contact Annette Ayres at 336-373-7019.

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