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SPENCER -- Roane County moved to high on the CDC's COVID Community Level scale this week, but the CEO of Roane General Hospital said he hasn't seen much change in the situation on the ground.
Roane and many area counties have been consistently classified as low on the levels issued on Thursdays by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently. They're based on new cases per 100,000 people and the rates of hospitalizations and beds used by COVID patients in the preceding seven days.
A classification of high means the CDC recommends people wear masks in indoor, public spaces. Under medium, it's recommended that people at greater risk of severe illness do so.
In counties labeled low, the CDC recommends people at greater risk consult with a health care provider about what precautions to take.
Roane General CEO Doug Bentz noted the county's small population, a little over 14,000, means even small changes can affect its data.
"It's really no change compared to what it's been," he said. "I think we just had a handful of people test positive through the hospital" that got reported to the state.
There's been no influx of patients or strain on the hospital, Bentz said.
"There's really nothing that alarms us internally," he said.
The CDC lists 33 cases in Roane County over the last week. That's a rate of 241.1 per 100,000 people. Combining that with 13.9 new COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 people (which works out to two among the county's population) gave the county its high rating.
"It's just not really an accurate depiction of what's going on on the ground, especially with a smaller population," Bentz said.
Roane was the only county classified as high this week. Wood, Wirt, Calhoun, Jackson, Pleasants and Ritchie counties were medium, while Doddridge, Gilmer, Tyler and Wetzel counties were low.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.