Home Local News Active cases drop below 100 in Richmond; state sets new daily record

Active cases drop below 100 in Richmond; state sets new daily record

ROCKINGHAM — For the first time in more than three weeks, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Richmond County is below 100.

In Thursday’s update, the Richmond County Health Department reported 91 active cases — 83 under home isolation, seven hospitalized — with the addition of eight new positive cases of the coronavirus.

The last time the number of active cases was below 100 was Oct. 5, when the Health Department reported 85. The following day, there were 26 new cases, making the number of active cases jump to 104.

Since then, the active cases remained between 100 and 200, reaching a high of 189 on Oct. 20.

According to a map produced by the Health Department, many of the recent recoveries appear to come from the Hoffman area, which was only showing five active cases on Thursday — down from 53 the previous day.

Many of those could have come from inmates recovering following an outbreak at Morrison Correctional Institution. 

On Thursday, the N.C. Department of Public Safety listed three active cases for the prison. Records show a total of 107 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 at Morrison.

The county’s overall recovery total is 1,253. There have been 1,424 total positive cases since early April and of all those tested, 13,327 received a negative result.

Richmond County Schools on Thursday reported one new case involving a staff member at Rockingham Middle School.

There have been 385 positive cases so far during the month of October — 27 more than the total reported in September. Thirteen of the county’s 32 deaths have also been in October, with seven in September.

Despite the lower daily number in the county, the state set yet a new record one-day high of 2,885, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The previous high of 2,716 was set on Oct. 23.

Of the nearly 4 million COVID-19 tests performed in North Carolina, there have been 269,021 positive cases and 4,283 COVID-related deaths, according to DHHS.

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Of the 411 total patients hospitalized at FirstHealth facilities, 52 are COVID-positive patients. There are 1,181 hospitalized statewide, according to DHHS.

FirstHealth of the Carolinas has also performed 46,819 tests (including retests): 4,878 have been positive; 41,240 have been negative; and 162 are pending.

BY THE NUMBERS

The number of local cases per age group are as follows:

  • 0-18 – 188
  • 19-30 – 249
  • 31-40 – 186
  • 41-50 – 257
  • 50-64 – 298
  • 65-older – 254

The number of cases per ZIP code are as follows:

  • Rockingham – 736 (47 active)
  • Hamlet – 405 (34 active)
  • Ellerbe – 128 (5 active)
  • Hoffman – 143 (5 active)
  • Mount Gilead – 10 (0 active)
  • Marston – 9 (1 active)
  • Jackson Springs – 1 (0 active)

Sixty-two of the state’s 100 counties have now experienced more than 1,000 total cases.

Only four counties have had fewer than 200 cases, and they are all in the northeast corner of the state: Tyrrell (132), Camden (137), Gates (168) and Hyde (175). All four are among the state’s 10 least populated counties.

The total numbers (including recoveries) for surrounding counties are as follows:

  • Mecklenburg -33,988 (the only other counties to top 10,000 are Wake with 21,344 and Guilford with 11,581)
  • Union – 5,940
  • Stanly – 2,446
  • Montgomery – 1,195
  • Anson – 727 (728 were reported the previous day)
  • Moore – 2,281 (180 active, 43 deaths)
  • Hoke – 1,554
  • Scotland – 1,652
  • Robeson – 6,071

All numbers are from DHHS except Moore, which are from the local health department, as there has been a discrepancy with the state. 

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is reporting 1,491 total cases and 46 deaths in Chesterfield County and 1,142 cases and 13 deaths in Marlboro County.

 



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Managing Editor William R. Toler is an award-winning writer and photographer with experience in print, television and online media.