ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Health Department has reported a record-high number hospitalizations related to the coronavirus.
When the Health Department released the county’s statistics on Monday, there were 15 new positive cases with a dozen residents in the hospital for COVID-19 — the most at any one time since the pandemic began.
That number jumped from one on Friday and to 5 on Saturday before making a dozen on Monday.
Before now, the highest number of hospitalizations in a single day was seven, reported on June 7, July 21 and Aug. 1.
Statewide, the number of hospitalizations rose by 50 for a total of 948 from Saturday to Sunday, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Despite the rise, overall, hospitalizations have been on a downward trend since peaking at 1,246 on July 28.
FirstHealth currently has 36 COVID-positive patients in its hospitals, which make up for about 10.6% of hospitalized patients.
According to DHHS, 366 patients suspected — 111 confirmed — of having COVID-19 were admitted within 24 hours on Sunday, Aug. 23.
Richmond County currently has 121 active cases, with the remaining 109 who are not hospitalized under home isolation.
Monday’s cases bring the county’s total up to 635 since early April, with 505 having already recovered.
According to the Health Department, 6,659 have tested negative for the coronavirus. DHHS reports that only 156,396 of the 2,087,695 completed tests have been positive for COVID-19. The estimated number of statewide recoveries on Monday was 136,630.
Of the 24,780 tests completed by FirstHealth, 21,416 have been negative, 2,903 have been positive and the results of 200 tests are still pending.
There have been 2,535 deaths attributed to the coronavirus across the state, including nine in Richmond County and 21 in Moore County.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of local cases per age group are as follows:
- 0-18 – 80
- 19-30 – 101
- 31-40 – 93
- 41-50 – 119
- 50-64 – 146
- 65-older – 96
The number of cases per ZIP code are as follows:
- Rockingham – 371 (292 recovered)
- Hamlet – 163 (129 recovered)
- Ellerbe – 66 (55 recovered)
- Hoffman – 25 (23 recovered)
- Mount Gilead – 8 (6 recovered)
- Marston – 2
DHHS reports that more than 40 of the state’s 100 counties that have now experienced more than 1,000 total cases: Alamance, Brunswick, Burke, Buncombe, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Chatham, Cleveland, Columbus, Cumberland, Davidson, Duplin, Durham, Forsyth, Gaston, Granville, Guilford, Harnett, Henderson, Iredell, Johnston, Lee, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Onlsow, Orange, Pitt, Randolph, Rowan, Robeson, Sampson, Stanly, Surry, Union, Wake, Wayne and Wilson.
Wilkes and Franklin counties both have more than 900 cases.
Graham County remains having the state’s fewest number of cases with 50, followed by Madison with 58. Gates and Hyde counties, near the northeast coast, have 75 and 77, respectively. Camden, Clay, Currituck, Mitchell, Pamlico, and Yancey are the only other counties with fewer than 100 cases.
The total numbers (including recoveries) for surrounding counties are as follows:
- Mecklenburg -24,260 (the only other county to top 10,000 is Wake with 13,842)
- Union – 3,702
- Stanly – 1,381
- Montgomery – 797
- Anson – 406
- Moore – 1,208 (135 active)
- Hoke – 833
- Scotland – 561
- Robeson – 3,219
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 875 cases in Chesterfield County and 635 in Marlboro County.
Eleven counties in South Carolina have had more than 3,000 total cases, including Horry, Charleston and Richland.
