Beaufort County Emergency Management: COVID-19 Update (4-8-20) | Eastern North Carolina Now

    What to Do if You Feel Sick     CDC and NC Dept. Of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) have released new guidance for patients, health care providers and outpatient facilities. (These 3 documents are attached to today's email.) The CDC and NCDHHS now recommend the following for people experiencing symptoms or become sick:

• Most people who get COVID-19 will recover without needing medical care. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that you stay home if you have mild symptoms – such as fever and cough without shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. You can call your doctor to see if you need medical care. If you do not have a doctor, you can seek medical attention by using the following:
  • Vidant NOW: This is a web based platform that allows users to consult Vidant doctors, and can be accessed using this link: https://www.vidantnow.com/vidanthealth/landing_home
  • You can also contact your local Health Department.
• Some people are at higher risk of getting very sick with COVID-19. People at higher risk should call their doctor if they develop symptoms of fever or cough. You are at higher risk if you:
  • Are 65 years and older
  • Live in a nursing home or long-term care facility
  • Have a high-risk condition that includes:
    • Chronic lung disease or moderate to severe asthma
    • Heart disease with complications
    • Compromised immune system
    • Severe obesity
    • Body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher
    • Other underlying medical conditions, particularly if not well controlled, such as diabetes, renal failure or liver disease
• People who are pregnant should be monitored since they are known to be at risk for severe viral illness. However, to date, data on COVID-19 has not shown increased risk for severe illness.
• The CDC and NCDHHS now recommend the following guidance for treatment:
  • Isolate Yourself
  • If you are sick with COVID-19 or believe you might have it, you should stay home and separate yourself from other people in the home as much as possible.
  • When can I go back to my normal activities?
  • You can stop isolating yourself when you answer YES to ALL three questions:
    • Has it been at least 7 days since you first had symptoms?
    • Have you been without fever for three days (72 hours) without any medicine for fever?
    • Are your other symptoms improved?
  • Call your doctor if your symptoms are getting worse or you have any concerns about your health.
  • What if I’m not sure if I have COVID-19?
  • If you have fever and cough and other symptoms of respiratory illness, even if it is not from COVID-19, you should isolate yourself as if you have COVID-19. This will reduce the risk of making the people around you sick.
  • What should my family members do?
  • Anyone in your household or others who have been in close contact with you should stay home for 14 days as much as possible and monitor themselves for symptoms. Close contact means within six feet for at least 10 minutes. If they start having symptoms of COVID-19, they should take the same steps to prevent spreading it. Family members who are healthcare workers, first responders, or others who are needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic should review CDC guidance and check with their employers about when to return to work.
  • Call your doctor or 911 right away if you have:
    • Shortness of breath
    • Difficulty breathing
    • Chest pain or pressure
    • Confusion
    • Blue lips

    Testing     The CDC and NCDHHS have shifted their focus away from mass testing. As such, current testing guidelines are as follows:

• Most people do not need a test. When you leave your home to get tested, you could expose yourself to COVID-19 if you do not already have it. If you do have COVID-19, you can give it to someone else, including people who are high risk.
• Your doctor can help you decide if you need a test. There is no treatment for COVID-19. For people with mild symptoms who don't need medical care, getting a test will not change what you or your doctor do.
• Testing is most important for people who are seriously ill, in the hospital, people in high- risk settings like nursing homes or long-term care facilities, and healthcare workers and other first responders who are caring for those with COVID-19.
• There have been 124 tests completed in Beaufort County to date, with 111 negatives, 8 positives and 5 pending. (These are cumulative numbers and includes test performed at the Health Department and reporting private medical facilities throughout our county.) *Two of our positive cases were tested in other counties.*
• Beaufort County Health Department will no longer provide community testing due to limited supplies. Most medical providers in the county can conduct the COVID-19 test.
• Not everyone should be tested. If a person is sick, they should assume they may have COVID-19 or another communicable disease and stay home until they are fever free for 3 days and have been in self-isolation for at least seven days. If their symptoms worsen, then they should contact their provider to see if additional medical attention is needed.
• There is no treatment for COVID-19. A positive test will not impact the medical management for most people with COVID-19. Testing should be used when conditions are more severe, and the diagnosis needs to be ruled out. Commercial lab testing is still available for those providers needing this information.
• Alternative surveillance tools will be used to track the spread in our county. Tracking only lab-confirmed cases is not a reliable or accurate way to understand the pandemic; therefore, the health department will use influenza surveillance tools designed to track widespread respiratory illness.
• People infected with COVID-19 coming out to be tested may spread illness to others in the community, including those at higher risk of complications, and health care workers. Also, people who are not infected with COVID-19 can become so when seeking testing, especially at health care sites. This is why we advise sick people to stay home when sick and for healthy people to only go out for necessary trips (ex. Food, medications, scheduled doctor’s appointments).

    Announcement     We are getting reports that some recipients of our mass notification email group are no longer receiving this update daily to their email account. We have found that some email providers are beginning to flag emails from us as SPAM, and not completing the delivery process. We have corrected everything we can from our end. Please contact your email provider if this occurs. Reminder, our daily updates are also posted on Beaufort County’s Health Department webpage under the “COVID-19 Update” tab. Use the following link to access this tab and other resource information:     https://co.beaufort.nc.us/departments/human-services/public-health/2019-coronavirus-covid-19     What to Expect in the Future?

• National & State Modeling
• The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations continues to update projections for COVID-19. Their data includes estimates of needs (ie. hospital beds, ICU beds, ventilators) as well as peak cases for US and state by state. Recent updates include a reduction in hospitalizations and death rates for NC, reflecting the effectiveness of current mitigation efforts. N.C is projected to peak on April 13th. You can view this information by using the following link:
  
  https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections
  
  (This may not work well in Internet Explorer) Use the drop down arrow next to “United States of America” to view this data at a state level.
• Beaufort County Modeling
• Since activating our EOC, staff members have been evaluating case statistics and mitigation efforts in an attempt to model what impacts we could expect locally. Unfortunately, as a new virus strand, there are things we know about COVID-19, and things we are still learning. Let’s start with what is known. It is a respiratory virus. Prior to COVID-19, the most well-known respiratory virus in the US was influenza (Flu). According to the CDC, the most severe Flu season on record in the last 10 years. This outbreak was estimated to have impacted 6,450 Beaufort Co. residents, with 118 hospitalizations and 9 deaths. As our worse year on record in the last decade, we used this Flu season as the foundation for modeling what impacts COVID-19 may have on Beaufort Co..
• We also know that COVID-19 has a higher calculated communicability factor than the Flu. Simply speaking, its more contagious or easier to spread. The 2017/18 Flu strand was calculated at 1.53. COVID-19 is calculated to be 2.25.
• Our model applies this COVID-19 factor to the estimated impacts experienced during the 2017/18 Flu season. In short, it models our most a severe Flu season while adjusting for the higher transmission rates of COVID-19. In doing so, our planning estimates indicate that we could experience the following over the next 4 months:
  • 192 Hospitalizations
  • 46 ICU patients
  • 15 Deaths
• We realize that the most prominent question remains. How many people in Beaufort Co. will contract COVID-19? The answer to this question continues to have a high level of uncertainty, because it is dependent upon variables such as, adherence to social distancing interventions, personnel hygiene habits, contact tracing, environmental factors, etc.. Without these interventions, our model estimates that up to 20% of our county’s population (or 10,504 people) could be impacted by COVID-19, with most being mildly symptomatic.
• It is important to remember that these models are not a crystal ball and are for planning purposes. As citizens of Beaufort County, we are in a position today to determine how badly COVID-19 will impact our communities in the future. Please continue to practice social distancing. Do not have gatherings of more than 10 people. Disinfect surfaces. Wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your face. Is you feel sick stay home and isolate your self from others.

    Announcements of cases attributed to “community spread” will continue for the foreseeable future. This is a normal and expected progression of communicable disease pandemics such as COVID-19. However, frequent hand washing and continuing to practice social distancing is the best way to fight community spread.

    Areas with high population densities such as Wake, Durham and Mecklenburg counties will continue to experience the greatest concentration of outbreaks, with their neighboring counties being the next highest. This to is an expected trend and is now evident by reviewing the NCDHHS state map tracker:
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/covid-19-case-count-nc
    Economic Impacts and Mitigation
    The systemic effects of social distancing has and will continue to impact our local economy. Particularly our local restaurants, many of which continue to offer carryout / drive through options. The status of local businesses and restaurants can be found by visiting the link below from the Washington Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce. Please continue to support these locations when possible during this difficult time:
https://www.wbcchamber.com/news/2020-business-updates-regarding-covid-19

    There are also several conversations at the federal and state levels regarding economic initiative. North Carolina is in the process of lifting many of the unemployment guidelines for those seeking assistance. Details pertaining to this initiative will be forthcoming.
    Resources
    We have created a resource page that can accessed at:
    https://co.beaufort.nc.us/departments/human-services/public-health/2019-coronavirus-covid-19

    This resource page contains guidance for businesses, long term care facilities, families, and more.

    We are here to offer support and answer any questions or concerns. We are encouraging all community partners to share accurate information and promote it within your businesses, communities, and elsewhere. Beaufort County's website and Facebook page are great ways to stay up to date on accurate information.



• Chris Newkirk
• Deputy Director
• Beaufort County Emergency Services
• 1420 Highland Dr
• Washington, N.C. 27889
• Office: (252) 940-6511
• Cell: (252) 378-5352
• Chris.Newkirk@co.beaufort.nc.us