COVID-19 Basics
What is a coronavirus?
Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses that can cause illness in animals and humans. Some coronaviruses commonly circulate in the United States and usually cause upper respiratory symptoms such as cough or runny nose, although some can cause more serious illness. The 2019 novel (new) coronavirus causes the illness Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
What is COVID-19?
COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) is a disease caused by a virus named SARS-CoV-2. It can be very contagious and spreads quickly.
How does COVID-19 spread and what are the symptoms?
Coronaviruses like COVID-19 are most often spread through the air by coughing or sneezing, through close personal contact (including touching and shaking hands) or through touching your nose, mouth or eyes before washing your hands. Learn more from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about how to protect yourself and others against COVID-19.
Symptoms of COVID-19 are fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure.
Where can I find COVID-19 data specific to Jackson County?
Data specific to Jackson County can be accessed by visiting the North Carolina Respiratory Virus Summary Dashboard. This dashboard tracks information about North Carolinians with contagious respiratory viruses that can cause cold symptoms or severe breathing problems, including COVID-19, the flu (Influenza), and RSV. Some dashboards include data specific to Jackson County.
TESTING for Covid-19
What COVID-19 testing options are available in Jackson County?
COVID-19 testing is available through many healthcare providers in Jackson County. If you suspect you have COVID-19 and need to be tested, begin by calling your healthcare provider.
Free home tests are available at the JCDPH with the receptionist, while supplies last.
Find additional places where you can get tested now or pick up tests to take at home at: covid19.ncdhhs.gov/FindTests. Some sites offer both testing and treatment. Some tests are free, even if you don’t have insurance.
treatment of covid-19:
Have symptoms? Don't wait. COVID-19 treatments can lower your risk of hospitalization or death.
Talk to your doctor about treatment.
To find treatment options, go to covid19.ncdhhs.gov/FindTreatment.
If you don't know where to go, call 800-232-0233 (TTY 888-720-7489).
Know your rights. Health care providers must treat you even if you don't have a government-issued ID or insurance.
Treatments are not a substitute for vaccination. Vaccines offer the best protection against COVID-19.
COVID-19 Vaccines
Staying Up to Date with COVID-19 Vaccines.
NC DHHS COVID-19 Vaccine Information.
COVID-19 vaccines are available at the JCDPH. For more information or schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine call 828-586-8994.
Note that other providers in our area also offer the COVID-19 vaccine. For a full list of vaccine providers, visit the Find a COVID-19 Vaccine website.
Respiratory virus guidance
The CDC offers guidance to provide practical recommendations and information to help people lower risk from a range of common respiratory viral illnesses, including COVID-19, flu, and RSV. To learn more visit the CDC’s Respiratory Virus Guidance page.
COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance
The COVID-19 Wastewater Alert for Regional Risk in NC (COVID-WARRN) project uses wastewater surveillance as an early warning system that allows Jackson County to anticipate new COVID-19 outbreaks. The project is a collaboration between the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the Jackson County Department of Public Health, the Tuckaseigee Water & Sewer Authority, the McLellan Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Dogwood Health Trust, and the private data analytics firm Mathematica.
Wastewater surveillance can play a vital role in monitoring COVID-19 spread because it overcomes some key gaps in clinical testing through broad population coverage, the ability to detect asymptomatic infections, and the potential to show changes in infection rates up to two weeks earlier than confirmed case data. Through weekly wastewater surveillance for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its new viral variants, the COVID-WARRN project is giving Jackson County public health officials a more complete picture of the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic locally, and how it compares to regional and national trends. Through the project, Jackson County is contributing data to a National Wastewater Surveillance System, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have initiated to better understand the extent of COVID-19 infections across the country.
Trends in Jackson County’s wastewater viral concentrations as well as updated information on the county’s community risk and vulnerability are available at https://wastewater.covid19.mathematica.org/
Related News Releases:
The Role of Wastewater Data in Pandemic Management, April 2022
Traces of Novel Coronavirus in Wastewater Provide Early Signs of Changes in Local Infection Rate
Mathematica Partnership in WNC Informs Efforts to Establish National Wastewater Surveillance System