GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Several counties in the Piedmont Triad are ranked 'medium' on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's list for COVID-19 levels.
Surry, Yadkin, Alamance, Davie, Stokes, and Forsyth Counties are all ranked 'medium." The CDC ranks counties either low, medium, or high depending on the COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
The CDC recommends if you are in those counties and are at risk of severe illness, talk to your health care provider about whether you need to wear a mask and take other precautions.
"We are obviously seeing more cases because it’s been a long time since a lot of people have had their vaccine or their booster," said Forsyth County Public Health Director Joshua Swift. "Less people are wearing masks and then we are getting back together with events, whether it’s memorial day or just a sporting event, concerts and things like that."
According to the CDC, about 20% of tests in Forsyth County are coming back positive. Swift said the number of cases is likely higher than the data shows because at-home tests are not reported.
"We’ve seen this in the past during some of the summer months is cases might go up because It’s like today, it’s OK to be outside but it’s getting to be so warm that we are going back inside with air-conditioning so that could lead to an uptick," Swift said.
Guilford County is still ranked 'low' by the CDC with about 17 percent of tests there coming back positive.
In both Guilford and Forsyth Counties, 62% of the population are fully vaccinated and 34% have received a booster shot.
Skip Alston, the chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, said the board will get an update from the county health director Thursday and they can then decide if further precautions need to be taken.
Swift said being vaccinated and boosted is the key to being protected. If you don't know whether you're eligible for another booster, you can find out here.