The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that it will stop publishing some detailed COVID-19 statistics when the federal public health emergency comes to an end on May 11.
As COVID-19 has become more routine for doctors and public health agencies, DHHS says now is the time for changes to their online COVID-19 dashboard.
The agency’s remaining community testing sites will end on March 31.
“While we continue to see illness and deaths from COVID-19, it is no longer the threat it once was thanks to testing, vaccines and treatment," Dr. Susan Kansagra, director of the agency’s Division of Public Health said in a statement.
"As we evolve our response to the more routine nature of COVID-19 going forward, these indicators will help us monitor our health care capacity from respiratory illness including COVID-19 and adjust our response if needed."
COVID-19 data will be compiled and displayed with other respiratory illness data. It will also be part of the North Carolina Respiratory Illness Summary dashboard.
A news release stated that dashboard will include:
- COVID-like illness, influenza-like illness and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-like illness and other respiratory illness visits to emergency departments;
- New COVID-19 and influenza hospital admissions; and
- Wastewater surveillance
The department will also switch to monthly updates to COVID-19 vaccination data beginning May 31.
Numbers are changing less regularly, the agency said, as the pace of vaccination is basically static. Data on cases and deaths will remain available on the consolidated Respiratory Illness Dashboard.
Another data set that will come to an end will be reports on COVID-19 patients that have recovered, hospitalization, deaths by vaccination status and outbreaks at congregate living centers like nursing homes.
The federal Centers for Disease Prevention and Control will continue to track community spread on their website, the state agency said.
As COVID-19 vaccines have become a routine part of health care, the department will return back to normal immunization reporting. COVID-19 vaccine records will be available online through the state until June 1. After that, people who need proof of COVID-19 vaccination will need to get it from their health care provider.
