NCDHHS Expands Demographic Data for COVID-19 Cases Change in CDC Definition to Cause Increase in Hospitalizations Reported on November 13

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today expanded the demographic data for NC COVID-19 cases and added new filtering functions to the NC COVID-19 Dashboard. Demographic data for COVID-19 total cases are available by age group, gender, race and ethnicity and can be filtered by county. The information will be displayed on a new Case Demographics Page on the dashboard.

The information will be displayed both over time by the week of specimen collection and total data since the start of the pandemic. Demographic information is not available for all cases since some people cannot be reached or may choose not to disclose this information. Furthermore, because demographic data are often obtained through case investigations by local health departments, there can be a lag in when the data are available. Therefore, data displayed for the most recent two-week period are often incomplete. 

When a county has a population of fewer than 500 individuals for a specific demographic group or fewer than three cases occurred in a week, some data are suppressed to protect patient privacy. Trend charts will display data for the latest week when that week is complete and seven days of data are available.

In addition to the demographic data update, two other updates are being made today to the
NC COVID-19 Dashboard: 

Hospitalization Data: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revised the criteria for reporting COVID-19 hospitalizations. Previously, the CDC required that hospitals report patients only when they were under isolation precautions, which is typically a maximum of 21 days. Because patients may suffer the effects of COVID-19 for a longer period of time, the CDC now requires that hospitalizations be reported for the entire length of stay. As a result, it is likely that North Carolina will see a one-time increase in hospitalizations on November 13 and a continued higher number under the new definition.

Time of Reporting: NCDHHS is modifying the time that the data are pulled for the dashboard. As a result, there will be a one-time artificial decrease in the number of tests, cases and deaths on November 13, as the data will cover 10 hours as opposed to the standard 24 hours. Future data will cover the standard 24-hour period.