Yadkin Valley News

How people view initial research results about COVID-19 depends if they are a glass half full or half empty type of person, North Carolina's highest-ranking state Senator said earlier in July. 

Sen. Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) made his comments in a Facebook post on July 2 in response to results he shared from Wake Forest Baptist Health and Atrium Health study that found 12%-15% of people randomly tested for coronavirus had antibodies. The study has largely tested people in the Triad region. 

The state Legislature provided $100,000 to Wake Forest Baptist to conduct the antibody testing. Legislators plan to use the results to map out how best to reopen the economy. 

"We just got some more numbers, and they're pretty incredible," Berger said in the Facebook post. "... Depending on if you’re a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty person, there is good news and bad news in here. The bad news is that the sheer volume of people getting COVID over the last few weeks could get out of control."

The study points out that while the fatality rate is about 0.1% and COVID-19 cases were initially low, in time positive results have quickly risen, WFAE 90.7 reported on July 2. The study notes that if 14% of North Carolina's 10.5 million residents at some point had coronavirus that means 1.47 million people have been infected.

"Although the numbers indicate that the vast majority of people who contract COVID do not get very sick and do not require hospitalization if millions of people in NC have it at the same time, even a tiny percentage of them requiring hospitalization would fill up beds pretty quickly," Berger said in his Facebook post. "Our hospitals and ICU continue to have [the] capacity, though, with more room to expand if necessary. I remain optimistic that our state and country will get through this crisis." 

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported that as of July 19 that approximately 100,000 residents tested positive for the coronavirus. 

Wake Forest Baptist started the ongoing study in April. So far, approximately 19,000 are involved in the study. 

“We are clearly seeing a rapid increase in the number of people that we have antibody evidence who have been infected," John Sanders, the chief of infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist, said, the WFAE 90.7 reported on July 2.