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NC’s COVID-19 Numbers Are Going Up, Here’s How To Make Sense Of The Data

Coronavirus case numbers and hospitalizations are increasing in North Carolina. There are more than 45,000 confirmed cases in the state, according to June 15 data from The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
Coronavirus case numbers and hospitalizations are increasing in North Carolina. There are more than 45,000 confirmed cases in the state, according to June 15 data from The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

 

As businesses reopen and summer weather lures people into public spaces, health officials in North Carolina worry about the pandemic’s increasing toll on the population. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state topped 45,000 this week. 

Host Frank Stasio talks with Liora Engel-Smith, a reporter at North Carolina Health News, and Lisa Gralinski, a professor in the epidemiology department at UNC-Chapel Hill, about the latest information on coronavirus cases, testing and vaccines.

Hospitalizations are trending upward, and more than 1,100 people have died. Gov. Roy Cooper and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen are reconsidering the move into Phase Three at the end of June. Host Frank Stasio talks with Liora Engel-Smith, a reporter for North Carolina Health News about making sense of the most recent numbers. Lisa Gralinksi, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, also joins Stasio to discuss the state of testing and vaccines. 

Copyright 2020 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Kaia Findlay is a producer for The State of Things, WUNC's daily, live talk show. Kaia grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in a household filled with teachers and storytellers. In elementary school, she usually fell asleep listening to recordings of 1950s radio comedy programs. After a semester of writing for her high school newspaper, she decided she hated journalism. While pursuing her bachelor’s in environmental studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, she got talked back into it. Kaia received a master’s degree from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism, where she focused on reporting and science communication. She has published stories with Our State Magazine, Indy Week, and HuffPost. She most recently worked as the manager for a podcast on environmental sustainability and higher education. Her reporting passions include climate and the environment, health and science, food and women’s issues. When not working at WUNC, Kaia goes pebble-wrestling, takes long bike rides, and reads while hammocking.