Click here to see what's allowed and what's closed, and learn how the local order compares to the state.

The Durham County Coronavirus Data Hub features case totals, case demographic data, weekly data briefs, and more. Visit the hub at tinyurl.com/dcocoviddata. 

Additional data may also be found on the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) COVID-19 Data Dashboard. This dashboard is managed by NCDHHS. 

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS)  sets data monitoring and reporting guidelines. Determining data sharing involves considerations of HIPAA protections, data availability, and more.

Don't see the data you're looking for on our data hub? Check the state data dashboard! While testing sites are required to report all positive COVID tests to local health departments, certain data, like negative test results, are only required to be reported to the state (NCDHHS). 

Can't find something you saw before? It may have moved to a new home. As the pandemic continues, sometimes reporting changes as new guidelines are developed by NCDHHS. For example, while outbreak numbers in our congregate living settings were previously shared in press releases daily, they are now shared by NCDHHS on a document updated twice weekly, which reports outbreak data for all congregate living settings across the state.  

State and county testing data can be found on the NCDHHS testing dashboard. This data is updated daily. 

 Durham County receives testing data from NCDHHS and reports it weekly on our data hub.

COVID-19 outbreak information is shared on the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Ongoing Outbreaks in Congregate Living Settings report. In a congregate living setting, a COVID-19 outbreak is defined as two or more laboratory-confirmed
cases.

COVID-19 cluster information is shared Ongoing Clusters in Child Care and School Settings report. In a child care or school setting, a COVID-19 cluster is defined as a minimum of five laboratoryconfirmed cases with illness onsets or initial positive results within a 14-day period and plausible epidemiologic linkage between cases.

These reports share information about all outbreaks and clusters throughout North Carolina and are updated twice weekly.

The 7-day moving average is the average number of cases of COVID-19 confirmed each day for the last 7 days. For example! If the 7 day moving average is 25, this means around 25 new cases were confirmed on each of the last seven days. Some days there were more than 25 cases confirmed, but some days there were fewer, for a total of about 175 new cases of COVID confirmed in last week (25 cases each day x 7 days = 175 total cases). 

 The 7-day moving average may increase or decrease as the spread of COVID-19 speeds up or slows down, but it will always be above 0 until there are at least 7 days with no new cases confirmed. It will never be below 0. 

The running case total is the total number of cases of COVID-19 confirmed since the pandemic began. This includes cases that have recovered or have passed away. 

The running case total will never decrease, but it will stay the same when there are no new COVID-19 cases confirmed. 

NCDHHS guidance recommends the following people should consider getting teseted for COVID-19: 

• Anyone with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19.
• Close contacts of known positive cases, regardless of symptoms.
  • Get tested immediately if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. If you do not have symptoms, you should wait at least six days after your last known exposure to COVID-19 before you get tested.
• The following groups are some of the populations with higher risk of exposure or a higher risk of severe disease if they become infected. People in these groups should get tested if they believe they may have been exposed to COVID-19, whether or not they have symptoms.  
  • People who live in or have regular contact with high-risk settings (e.g., long-term care facility, homeless shelter, correctional facility, migrant farmworker camp).
  • Historically marginalized populations who may be at higher risk for exposure.
  • Frontline and essential workers (grocery store clerks, gas station attendants, child care workers, construction sites, processing plants, etc.) in settings where social distancing is difficult to maintain.
  • Health care workers or first responders (e.g. EMS, law enforcement, fire department, military).
  • People who are at high risk of severe illness (e.g., people over 65 years of age, people of any age with underlying health conditions).
• People who have attended protests, rallies, or other mass gatherings could have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or could have exposed others. Testing should be considered for people who attended such events, particularly if they were in crowds or other situations where they couldn’t practice effective social distancing.

There are three easy ways to find testing near you: 

• Visit our testing page to learn more about when to get tested, find a list of testing sites, and learn what happens next: dcopublichealth.org/covidtesting
• Visit our data hub to find a map of testing locations: tinyurl.com/DCoCOVIDdata
• Visit the NCDHHS Find My Testing Place tool to enter your address and find testing places near you: ncdhhs.gov/testingplace

The health department will call you to help you stay safe!

If you test positive for COVID-19, someone from the health department will call you to help you and others stay safe! We will provide instructions for staying home and monitoring symptoms, and we will ask who you have been in close contact with. This is so we can reach out to these people for guidance and help prevent them from passing the virus to others. This is a critical step in stopping the spread of COVID-19 in the community, so it's very important that you answer the call! 

Stay home and away from others within your household. 

It's important to stay home and separate yourself from others in your household as much as possible in order to recover and to protect others. Stay home until you can answer yes to all three of these questions: 

• Has it been at least 10 days since you started feelings symptoms? AND
• Has it been at least 24 hours since you had a fever without using fever-reducing medicine? AND
• Have your other symptoms improved?  

If your test comes back positive and you did not have symptoms, you should stay home and isolate (avoid anyone in your household) until 10 days have passed since the date of your first positive COVID-19 diagnostic test. If you develop symptoms during this time, continue to stay home and away from others until you can answer yes to the questions above. 

 It is not necessary to be tested again before returning to work. 

The CDC does not recommend re-testing before returning to work once conditions for leaving isolation are mey. Once you can answer yes to the following questions, you may leave isolation: 

• Has it been at least 10 days since you first had symptoms? 
• Has it been at least 24 hours (1 day) since you have had a fever without using fever-reducing medicine?
• Have your other symptoms improved (such as coughing and shortness of breath)?

If you were tested because you have symptoms, you should stay home until you have no fever without the use of fever-reducing medicines, and you have felt well for at least 24 hours.

If you were tested because of a known contact to someone with COVID-19, you should follow the quarantine guidance (stay home and avoid contact with other members of your household) until at least 10 days after your last exposure. If you live or work in a congregate setting or at the site of an ongoing outbreak, quarantine for a full 14 days.

If you were tested for another reason and have no symptoms, you can resume your regular activities.

People should continue to practice the 3 Ws (wear, wait, and wash) whenever they leave home. Wearing a cloth face covering if someone will be with other people, waiting 6 feet apart, and washing their hands often can help protect themselves and their loved ones.

If you live or work in a congregate setting or at the site of an ongoing outbreak, quarantine for a full 14 days.

If you do not work in a congregate setting or at the site of an ongoing outbreak, you may qurantine for 10 days. 

If you begin feeling sick at any point during your quarantine period, it is important to get tested and stay home.

Durham County is not following the CDC minimum quarantine period of 7 days. This time period is a minimum recommendation. To best protect the community, Durham County residents must quarantine for a minimum of 10 days. The health department will always provide quarantine guidance when you are called during the contact tracing process. It is important to always follow this guidance!

Contact tracing is a process of identifying people who have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19 and reaching out to those people to provide them with quarantine information. During contact tracing, we can also provide you provide you with resources and other information, like how to have groceries delivered if needed during your quarantine period. It is very important that you answer the phone with the health department calls! 

Local health departments (LHD) and health agencies have used contact tracing in North Carolina for decades to control the spread of other diseases such as tuberculosis and measles. Local health departments have been using contact tracing for COVID-19 since the first cases were identified in North Carolina. 

Two kinds of tests are available for COVID-19: viral tests and antibody tests. A viral test tells someone if they currently have COVID-19. It is also called a diagnostic test. An antibody test tells someone if they had the virus before. It is not known yet if having antibodies to the virus can protect someone from getting the virus again, or how long that protection might last.

Antibody tests are not included in NCDHHS’ total test numbers.

Learn more about the types of tests available in this video from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

COVID case data, including demographic info like race and age, for the state can be found on the North Carolina Deparrtmenet of Health and Human Services website here: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard. 

 This data for Durham County can be found on our data dashboard here: https://durhampublichealth-durhamnc.hub.arcgis.com/

All people are at risk of contracting COVID-19 and suffering serious illness. Certain groups are at higher risk of suffering serious illness from COVID-19:

• • People aged 65 years and older
  • People who live in a nursing home or long-term care facility
  • Other high-risk conditions could include:
    • People with chronic lung disease or moderate to severe asthma
    • People who have heart disease with complications
    • People who are immunocompromised including cancer treatment
    • People of any age with severe obesity (body mass index [(BM]I)≥40) or certain underlying medical conditions, particularly if not well controlled, such as those with diabetes, renal failure, or liver disease might also be at risk

  There is limited information so far about COVID-19 in pregnant women. Pregnant women are at higher risk from influenza and other respiratory viruses, so they are encouraged to be extra vigilant.

There are some common sense measures everyone can take to protect themselves and others from the spread of respiratory illnesses including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

• Wash hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds each time.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
• Avoid close contact with people who are ill.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
• Do not reuse tissue after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose. 
• Clean and disinfect surfaces that are frequently touched.
• Practice social distancing.
• Wear cloth face coverings to prevent spreading germs to others.

There are many ways to help Durham County residents affected by COVID-19.

For medical providers:
Volunteers are needed for NC's health care workforce in #COVID19NC Register at http://terms.ncem.org for: 

• Clinical- doctors, nurses, EMS
• Clinical support- pharmacy, imaging & respiratory care
• Other- facility maintenance, safety & admin

   For community members:
Duke Health is accepting outside donations of unused medical grade N95 masks, surgical and ear-lop face masks, and unopened boxes of exam gloves. Homemade cloth masks are not being accepted at this time: https://sites.duke.edu/remedy/how-to-donate/

Click here for an additional list of organizations in need of volunteers and resources.