<p>Smith</p>

Smith

LUMBERTON — The first signs of an increase in COVID-19 cases locally have been seen in the days after the Thanksgiving holiday, as the Robeson County Health Department reports an increase in the viral load in local wastewater systems.

The viral load increased by 25%, county Health Department Director Bill Smith said; this is typcailly the first indicator to note an impending increase in transmission rates, and one has been expected after gatherings during Thanksgiving. Remaining factors, including the number of cases, emergency room visits and hospitalizations related to COVID-19, are currently continuing to decline.

Robeson County remains in the “green” category on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s Community Transmission Map, indicating low transmission; statewide, 92 of the 100 counties are categorized as green with the remaining eight, primarily in central eastern coastal communities, in the “yellow” category for medium transmission. No counties in North Carolina are categorized as “red,” for high transmission, and the entire states of South Carolina and Georgia are in the green category; there are only a handful of red-category counties in the eastern half of the United States.

The Health Department’s weekly report on COVID-19 cases and deaths in incomplete due to limited reporting during the Thanksgiving holiday. There were 44 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in the county from Nov. 22 through Monday; 60 were reported from Nov. 15-21. There have been 52,268 total confirmed cases in the county since the pandemic began.

There were no virus-related deaths reported in the county from Nov. 22 through Monday, the third week out of the last four with no deaths reported; three were reported during the period from Nov. 15-21. The county’s pandemic death toll remains at 580.

The percentage of Robeson County residents to receive the bivalent booster vaccination has increased from 2% to 3% Smith said, calling it “a positive note” but noting that the county still sits well behind the state’s 16% rate, so “things are not great.”

“A major effort over the next six weeks nationally will be made to up the booster rate,” Smith said.

In other health-related news, Smith noted that the World Health Organization has renamed monkeypox to mpox; the change comes as an effort to try and avoid the stigma around the virus.