COVID-19 Cases On The Rise In Mecklenburg County
CHARLOTTE -COVID is making it’s way around Mecklenburg county again, but well before the cold kicks up.
“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘I have the summer cold’ but we have to remind people that COVID is still circulating,” said Dr. Raynard Washington, Mecklenburg County Public Health Director. “We started seeing an uptick right after the 4th of July holiday season, and recently we’ve seen some of the hottest weeks and we’ve encouraged people to stay in doors.”
More time in doors means closer quarters. Closer quarters means higher risk of spreading viruses like COVID-19.
Dr. Katie PassarettiΒ is the Vice President and Chief Epidemiologist at Atrium Health. She says that the symptoms are the same as they’ve been.
“The cough, congestion, fevers, that really applies to every variant of COVID we’ve seen,” she says.
The county is now tracking the virus through a new method; your waste!
“We do have info from our waste water surveillance system showing an increased presence of COVID for the last several week,” says Dr. Washington.
They are also seeing an uptick in hospital visits. While that number is small, Atrium says its still a good time to remind everyone of respiratory viral season, especially with school starting soon.
“As kids go back to school, as were huddled inside in the colder months,” said Dr. Passaretti, we will see another increase in COVID as well as other respiratory viruses.”
Mecklenburg County Government and A trium both said today they are hoping for an updated vaccine by the end of September.
They say if you had the COVID-19 vaccine five or more months ago should avoid large crowds indoors and continue to take precautions even when you’re outside or traveling.
