From Staff Reports

The United States and North Carolina experienced high rates of viral transmission in the second week of November, Buncombe County public health officials — led by Buncombe health director Stacie Saunders — said during the Nov. 17 community briefing in Asheville.

“To date, the United States has experienced over 11 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic start and over 250,000 deaths related to COVID-19 — onequarter of a million people,” the update noted.

“Our state currently has experienced over 312,000 confirmed cases since identifying our first North Carolina case. And sadly, almost 5000 of our fellow North Carolinians have died related to COVID-19.

“Here in Buncombe, we are on the brink of reaching 5,000 cases in our community with over 100 of our neighbors having died related to COVID-19. 

“After a week of stable trends, we have experienced an increase in new cases per 100,000 in the last two days. Two clusters, including one at a state prison in the area, are contributing to the increase but not responsible for all of the increase. We saw an increase in the percent positivity rate since last week however, the  percent positivity remains under 5 percent. Testing increased since last week. Deaths per 100,000  remained stable since last week. Hospital data remains stable.”

The report added, “Contact tracing tells us that family get-togethers, social gatherings, and places of work are sites of potential spread and exposure. Remember that the 3Ws must be followed all the time in order to work – this means with your family, friends, and co-workers. This means in at dinner with neighbors, at church, and in the breakroom.

“Some of our neighbors will be missing someone special to them because of COVID-19. Our thoughts are with them. 

“EVERY interaction, even those with your family, is an opportunity for the virus to spread. Our local indicators are on the rise. The things we do or don’t do matter. Our future trends and decisions lie in the hands of each and every community member.

“WASHING our HANDS

“WEARING a MASK

“AND KEEPING 6 FEET APART – even anyone outside our immediate household…that means any people we know who are NOT in our household.”

Further, the update report stated, “Remember to get a flu vaccine – protecting ourselves against the flu means helping our hospitals not being overwhelmed this season...

“Please help us stop the spread,” the update concluded, adding,” if you have concerns about an establishment not enforcing the mask requirement, call the Ready Team at (828) 419-0095 to log your complaint.”