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Forsyth County labeled high risk for COVID spread, indoor masking advised

Image courtesy of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

Forsyth is one of thirteen North Carolina counties that are currently considered high risk for COVID-19 spread. Local officials are making some recommendations to help drive those case numbers down.

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention recently changed Forsyth County to the color orange on its COVID-19 Community Level map. This means the area is considered to be at high risk for illness or strain on the health care system.

What pushed Forsyth into the orange was the number of new cases — 963 were reported the week of June 4. Local health officials say some good news is cases are starting to go down and the number of deaths has stayed pretty level. But hospitalizations and percent positive are up in the community.

The CDC recommends that people in orange counties wear a well-fitted mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Joshua Swift is the director of the Forsyth County Health Department.

“We would really encourage people to make that decision for themselves about whether to mask or not — but also again staying up to date with your vaccines and boosters, improved ventilation indoors when possible and then get tested if you get sick and follow quarantine and isolation recommendations from the CDC,” says Swift.

Free at-home COVID-19 test kits are available at the Forsyth County Department of Public Health and all county libraries.

Other Piedmont counties with high community levels are Surry, Yadkin and Davie Counties

Follow WFDD's  Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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