Eastern North Carolina hospitals seeing boosts in emergency department visits

NEW BERN, N.C. (WNCT) — Some Eastern North Carolina hospitals have reported bumps in COVID-19 cases recently.

In the most recent report from the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services, 4.9 percent of emergency department visits showed symptoms of a respiratory virus, up 0.2 percent from the prior week.

Cathy Fischer, The Director of Infection Prevention at CarolinaEast Medical Center in New Bern is encouraging people to be safe.

“We are seeing a little bump here in New Bern, we are seeing more ED cases, we’re not seeing more admissions really, but we are seeing a few more ED cases, we’re still at the low level and I think that’s true across the nation,” said Fischer.

CarolinaEast reminds people who are sick to wear a mask and stay at home. They also advise people to wash their hands, get vaccines and boosters.

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