While many have chosen to ignore it and presume that the COVID pandemic is over and done; nationwide, cases are up about 10% over the past week. About half of the states are seeing some kind of uptick. The trend of rising cases is most pronounced in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Those states had avoided much of the fourth surge that hit other states in late Summer

Statewide, the North Carolina Dept. of Health & Human Services reported the number of new cases again topped two thousand on Wednesday (Nov. 17th) [2,171]. The positivity rate for tests was 6.1%.

The Lincoln County Health Department's weekly COVID SNAPSHOT showed the average number of new cases reported daily over the last 14 days had once again increased slightly. From 18.8 two weeks ago, it increased to 21.8 last Wednesday and 23.7 this week. The largest percentage of new cases was among those 25-49 years old (31%) followed by those ag 50-64 (22%). Those age 0-17 accounted for 17% of the new cases. Older adults are still the ones most likely to be hospitalized with the virus.

Catawba County reported 195 new cases over the last week. That's the smallest number of new cases in a week reported there since the last week of July.

Gaston County reported 349 cases and four deaths last week. A week earlier, Gaston had reported 216 cases and three more deaths. Health Director Steve Eaton said the positivity rate for Gaston County last week was 9.18%.