This past week 99.9% of people in NC were estimated to pose no threat of passing along COVID-19 to anyone. Also, the seven-day rolling averages of hospitalizations and new cases are at their lowest levels since last July. The two-year anniversary of Gov. Roy Cooper’s “State of Emergency” has already come and gone, and we’re supposedly still in an emergency. 

The past few months have made it clear to nearly all of us just how political the Covid-19 orders have always been. An “emergency” in which the leaders who declared it behave as if nothing is wrong is no emergency in any plain understanding of the word, and neither is an “emergency” declared for the express purpose to “draw down federal funds.” 

Two days from now will be another two-year anniversary: of when Cooper openly decided to issue rules outside of state law to shut down restaurants and bars. He did that without warning at 5 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day, one of the busiest days of the year, especially for bars, many of which couldn’t survive the governor’s ongoing enmity against them. Read this timeline of the events that day to witness the birth of an autocrat.

Here is the NC Threat-Free Index for the week ending March 14. All of the statistics generated for the NC Threat-Free Index are based on numbers provided by government sources. This link gives a detailed explanation of how each statistic is derived.

  • As of March 14: well over 2.5 million North Carolinians (2,578,344) were presumed to be recovered from Covid-19.
  • Active cases comprised just 0.4% of NC’s total case count. 
  • Active cases represented 0.1% of NC’s population. 
  • Also, 98.7% of NC’s total cases were recovered, no longer infectious, and represented people now with persistent, long-lasting, and robust natural immunity to Covid-19 — immunity that is stronger against Covid-19 and its variants than even that enjoyed by those who are fully vaccinated.
  • Only 0.2% of people in NC had died with Covid-19. 
  • All things considered, 99.9% of people in NC posed no threat of passing along Covid-19 to anyone.

Immunity, protection, post-vaccination infections, and reinfections

For the week ending March 14:

  • At least 92.0% of all North Carolinians — 94.4% of adults — are estimated to have naturally acquired immunity or the protection of being fully vaccinated or both. 
  • Conversely, only about 2.3% of all North Carolinians — 1.0% of adults — were estimated to have neither natural immunity nor any protection from at least one inoculation. 
  • There had been 539,301 post-vaccination infections among 6,102,348 fully vaccinated individuals, per the most recent update from DHHS (for the week ending February 28). 
  • The estimated post-vaccination infection rate for the week ending February 28 was 8.4%.
  • Also as of the week ending February 28, 44% of Covid-19 cases in North Carolina over the previous week were to people considered fully vaccinated. 
  • There had been 87,442 reinfections for those with prior lab-confirmed cases of Covid-19 as of the week ending February 28.
  • The estimated reinfection rate for the week ending February 28 was 3.5%.