ROCKINGHAM — The daily COVID case count dropped slightly in Richmond County but nearly doubled statewide.
The Richmond County Health Department reported 38 new cases on Thursday, a decrease of eight from the previous day.
However, 36 new recoveries kept the number of active cases relatively the same at 504. (That number was 502 the previous two days.)
So far, there have been 486 cases of the coronavirus this month. There were just over 400 for both October and November and more than 800 in December.
After dropping to its lowest point this month, statewide cases jumped from 5,098 to 9,853, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
This marks the sixth day in January daily cases have topped 9,000, hitting a peak of 11,581 on Jan. 9. The case count has remained more than 5,000 each day this month.
Statewide COVID-related hospitalizations also hit a new high of 3,990 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, local hospital numbers on Thursday were the same as the day before: 24 from Richmond County; 100 at FirstHealth hospitals; 38 at Scotland Memorial.
On Thursday, DHHS announced that residents 65 years old and older can now get the vaccine, along with all health care workers.
Earlier this week, FirstHealth and the Health Department began administering the vaccine to those aged at least 75.
Free COVID-19 testing will continue throughout the month in the parking lot behind the Health Department. Testing will run from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, except when closed for lunch from noon-12:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Of all the tests performed on county residents, 24,859 have returned a negative result and 3,188 have been positive.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of local cases per age group are as follows (includes recoveries):
0-18 – 480 (+5)
19-30 – 514 (+4)
31-40 – 423 (+5)
41-50 – 532 (+2)
51-64 – 670 (+11)
65-older – 569 (+11)
(+ Denotes increase from previous report.)
