North Carolina
New COVID-19 variant EG.5 emerges as cases of the virus increase in North Carolina
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — COVID-19 cases are increasing in North Carolina and across the country. The presence of the virus in wastewater has increased by five-fold since mid-June.
Wastewater monitoring is usually an early warning sign of an increase in cases and a rise in other metrics.
There are now 297 people hospitalized for COVID-19 across the state. This number has steadily increased each week since the beginning of July but this is still 80% fewer patients than the number admitted this time last August (1,054).
“I think it’s definitely a good sign. But we also don’t want to be complacent. And when we move into the fall and winter seasons, we really have the peak in respiratory diseases. We want to be sure people are taking the steps now to protect themselves so we don’t get into trouble,” explained Dr. Betsey Tilson, North Carolina’s State Health Director.
Emergency room visits for respiratory illness have also started to creep up in the last four weeks. The latest data shows that 4.1% of ER visits involved respiratory symptoms; this time last year that percentage was double (10.4%).
This upward trend is mirrored across the nation with COVID-19 hospitalizations increasing by 40% in July.
This uptick comes as a new COVID-19 variant, EG.5, is increasing across the U.S.
“It’s mutating because it’s probably easier to catch, easier to transmit,” explained Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease expert at UNC Health.
The variant accounts for around 17% of new infections nationwide, according to estimates from the CDC. The latest strain of the Omicron family, XBB.1.16 accounts for about 16% of infections.
Tilson and Wohl said the presence of the variant may be partially to blame for the increase, but over the past few years, there has been a slight spike in infections this time of year.
“Since it’s been so hot and people have been really coming inside and collecting inside, that might be part of it and then waning of immunity, people being farther away from a past infection or farther away from their last booster,” said Tilson.
Despite the bump now, Wohl said EG.5 is within the Omicron family and doesn’t expect it to bring a massive surge.
“This new subvariant is very closely related to the variants that have been circulating for months. If you got COVID-19 within the last three months, you probably got something that’s extremely similar to this new subvariant. So I’m not too worried,” he said.
This week state health officials cautioned North Carolinians to prepare ahead of a respiratory illness season that may bring a high number of COVID, flu and respiratory illness cases.
Officials recommend people stay updated on COVID-19 boosters.
People who are eligible for a COVID-19 booster now are those whose last COVID vaccine was:
- Two months ago (people with compromised immune systems)
- Four months ago (people 65 years or older)
- Before September 2022 (everyone)
However, the U.S. is expected to release an updated version of the vaccine at the end of September that targets Omicron variants. Wohl said even with the new variant, the vaccine will still be effective, but people will have to choose when to get boosted.
“I wish that the new variant vaccine had been around now before kids went back to school. I think it’s unfortunate and that may cause us some trouble,” Wohl said.
He recommended people who are older, immunocompromised or planning travels or going back to school consider getting a booster now. He recommends all others who are up to date on their vaccines wait it out.
In addition to an updated COVID-19 vaccine, health experts also advise people to get their flu shots in September or early October. Individuals older than 60 years old should also ask their doctor about the RSV vaccine.
Here’s where to find a vaccination location: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/vaccines?click_source=alert
Beyond vaccines, Tilson said now is also the time to stock up on COVID-19 tests. The state still has at-home tests available for free.
Additionally, all the same precautions are encouraged.
“Making sure that if you’re sick, you’re not going out. You’re not sending your kids to school sick. Making sure we’re doing really good hand-washing and having those hand sanitizers, making sure if you’re sneezing, sneeze into your arm, not into our hands,” Tilson said.
North Carolina
Opinion: Politicians ignore truth: NC lags behind in health care, education, wages
Moe Davis quotes H.L. Mencken who said “the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed and hence clamorous to be led to safety.”
“No one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
This oft-repeated observation is by H.L. Mencken, a journalist, satirist and cultural commentator from Baltimore, who made it almost a century ago. Some say Mencken was racist, misogynistic and antisemitic, while others say he used provocative language to stimulate thought rather than to advance a position. Regardless, I’m struck by how prescient he seems today.
Early in my campaign for Congress in 2020, I talked about people voting against their own interests. Advisers warned me to stop saying it because it implied that people are stupid.
In hindsight, I wish I had ignored the advisers and been more like Mencken. It wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the election, but I should have had the gumption to tell people the truth, even if it hurt their feelings. So here it is now: Stupidity is no path forward for Western North Carolina.
More: Opinion: Republicans hope to demolish democracy that was cherished by Ronald Reagan
Mencken’s famous quote is from his book, “Notes on Democracy,” published in 1926. The passage reads:
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
We’re witnessing the enormous power of galvanizing individual ignorance to achieve political aims. It’s how the wealth gap grew into a wealth chasm as ordinary folks swallowed the notion that “trickle-down economics” would lift their rafts along with the rich man’s yacht, and that the “right to work” was good for them and their families when it really meant “the right to live impoverished while the rich grow richer.”
It’s how pro-lifers can argue that every life is precious while cheering the execution of death row inmates and the drowning of migrants snared in razor wire strung across the Rio Grande. It is how lies can masquerade as truth, cruelty as compassion, immorality as virtue, criminality as law and order, sedition as patriotism, and an election that was lost as one that was stolen. Mencken warned that “truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.”
Many haven’t just gotten used to fiction, they gleefully wallow in it and turn hostile when confronted with facts.
More: Opinion: Considering Asheville, Buncombe candidates, nothing will change in 2024 elections
The truth is WNC lags behind and it has for years. Take your pick — health care, education, broadband, wages — so many areas where we could do better if we just tried. Instead, many of us fall for charlatans who ignore facts and pander to feelings, even when those feelings are untethered from reality.
To quote Mencken again, “the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.” It reminds me of the anti-crime summit Congressman Chuck Edwards held last summer where he spoke in ominous terms about “lawlessness” and the need to act before Buncombe County and WNC “turn into another crime-ridden Chicago or San Francisco.”
Sheriff Quintin Miller responded that Edwards’s statement sounded like something “from Fox News” and was not supported by crime statistics kept by the State Bureau of Investigation. As the Sheriff said, “it’s irresponsible to have a conversation about public safety that is not rooted in data.” Unfortunately, truth becomes irrelevant when politicians ignore it to manipulate the feelings of the electorate to enhance their own political fortunes.
Perhaps it’s a pipedream, but I hope voters will ask politicians what they plan to do for “us” rather than what they plan to do to “them,” the imaginary hobgoblins they whip up to manipulate the malleable masses. And make them back it up with facts, not with just a play on feelings. Mencken said, “the most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.” WNC can move forward, but only if it is willing to think.
Moe Davis is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and the former head of the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division at the Congressional Research Service. He is currently writing a historical fiction novel set in Western North Carolina.
North Carolina
Lead slips away in draw with N.C. – Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
PITTSBURGH (May 18, 2024) — The Pittsburgh Riverhounds extended their unbeaten streak to seven games, but the team was unable to hold on to take all three points and settled for a 1-1 draw with North Carolina FC tonight at Highmark Stadium.
Edward Kizza scored just before halftime for the Hounds (3-3-4), but a headed goal in the second half by Evan Conway pulled North Carolina (2-4-5) level.
It was the first draw in five meetings between the teams, and it came in front of a sellout crowd of 5,113.
First half
The Hounds were the more promising side to begin the match, though former Hounds player Louis Pérez had the first good chance with an eighth-minute free kick from 27 yards that missed just over the bar for North Carolina.
Back the other way seconds later, the Hounds had a golden opportunity when Langston Blackstock sent a low cross in from the right wing, but a lunging Kenardo Forbes couldn’t turn the ball on frame from close range.
Forbes put his next chance on target just before the half-hour mark, a curling shot from inside the box that was spilled by North Carolina keeper Antonio Carrera. The rebound went to Kizza out wide, but with his back to goal and no angle to shoot, he played the ball wide for Junior Etou, and no Hounds were able to get on the end of the next cross.
Kizza’s goal came in the 44th minute after Danny Griffin nearly dribbled through the North Carolina midfield, playing a pass that took a fortunate deflection to Blackstock as he ran toward the top of the box. Carrera and the defense closed to Blackstock, who wisely slipped a pass to his left, where Kizza was unmarked and played the ball into the open net.
Second half
Where the Hounds had the edge with 61 percent of first-half possession, North Carolina came back with 66 percent of the ball after the break.
The visitors tied the match when Pérez served in a long, high ball from the left side that ended up being perfectly placed. Conway sprinted between a pair of Hounds defenders, and his header stayed just under the crossbar for the tying goal in the 58th minute.
Both teams searched for a winning goal, and the best chance late came from North Carolina substitute Oalex Anderson. Anderson got the ball at his feet inside the box, and he was able to spin away from two defenders and put plenty of power on a shot moving away from goal, but Hounds goalkeeper Gabriel Perrotta was able to parry the shot away and keep the match tied.
Modelo Man of the Match
Langston Blackstock picked up his first assist of the season on the Hounds’ goal, and the right wing back had a strong two-way night. The second-year pro created two chances, won 7 of 14 duels — including all three tackles on the night — and tied for the match high with six clearances.
What’s next?
The Hounds will make a Memorial Day weekend trip to Tennessee, where they will face Memphis 901 FC at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 25. Memphis (4-5-1), which moved to the Western Conference this year, won last night against El Paso, 2-1.
Riverhounds SC lineup (5-3-2) — Gabriel Perrotta; Junior Etou, Luke Biasi, Pat Hogan, Illal Osumanu (Sean Suber 62’), Langston Blackstock; Kenardo Forbes (Dani Rovira 77’), Danny Griffin, Robbie Mertz (Aidan O’Toole 77’); Edward Kizza (Bradley Sample 62’), Kazaiah Sterling
North Carolina FC lineup (5-3-2) — Antonio Carrera; Ezra Armstrong, Bryce Washington, Paco Craig, Mikey Maldonado, Shaft Brewer; Collin Martin, Raheem Somersall (Rodrigo Da Costa 76’), Louis Pérez; Evan Conway, Garrett McLaughlin (Oalex Anderson 68’)
Scoring summary
PIT — Edward Kizza 44’ (Langston Blackstock)
NC — Evan Conway 58’ (Louis Pérez)
Discipline summary
PIT — Illal Osumanu 6’ (caution – tactical foul)
PIT — Junior Etou 67’ (caution – reckless foul)
PIT — Bradley Sample 85’ (caution – tactical foul)
North Carolina
Watch live: Pittsburgh Riverhounds vs. North Carolina FC live stream
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — It’s a soccer night in Pittsburgh!
The Riverhounds are back home in Pittsburgh after last week’s 2-2 draw against Tulsa and head into this week’s matchup with a 3-4-3 record this season.
Kickoff at Highmark Stadium is set for 7:00 p.m.
There are multiple ways to watch the Riverhounds this season, including by watching the live player above and by tuning into KDKA+!
The Riverhounds’ 2024 season
KDKA+, which became the team’s local broadcast partner in 2023, will show 15 home matches and seven away matches this season. The matches will also be streaming here on KDKA.com.
The matches that KDKA+ will be broadcasting for the rest of the season listed below:
- Saturday, June 1 – Riverhounds vs. Indy – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, June 22 — North Carolina vs. Riverhounds – 7:30 p.m/
- Saturday, July 6 — Riverhounds vs. Monterey Bay – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, July 13 – Riverhounds vs. Oakland – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, July 27 – Riverhounds vs. Loudoun – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, August 10 – Riverhounds vs. San Antonio – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, August 17 – Riverhounds vs. Colorado Springs – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, August 24 – Birmingham vs. Riverhounds – 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday, August 31 – Indy vs. Riverhounds – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, September 7 – Riverhounds vs. Rhode Island – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, September 14 – Tampa Bay vs. Riverhounds – 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday, September 28 – Riverhounds vs. Birmingham – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, October 12 – Riverhounds vs. Charleston – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, October 19 – Loudoun vs. Riverhounds – 7 p.m.
- Saturday, October 26 – Riverhounds vs. El Paso – 7 p.m.
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