ROCKINGHAM — On the day that North Carolina experienced yet another record-breaking daily COVID case count, Richmond County announced its 50th virus-related death.
According to the Richmond County Health Department, the individual died earlier this month in a local health care facility, making nine in that setting.
Thirty-seven residents have died in a hospital after being diagnosed with the coronavirus and four have died outside of a healthcare setting.
So far there have been 10 COVID-related deaths in December. Six deaths were reported in November and 15 in October.
The county’s first death attributed to the coronavirus was announced on April 10.
The race and gender breakdown is as follows: nine African American females, six African American males, two American Indian males, 18 Caucasian females and 14 Caucasian males.
It is not known if any of the patients had underlying conditions.
All patients have been between the ages of 31 and 95: 18 have been 80 or older; 13 have been in their 70s; 14 in their 60s; four in their 50s; and one who was 31.
As of Dec. 30, there have been 6,729 COVID-related deaths in the state, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
The death totals for surrounding counties, according to recent local and state statistics, are: 78 in Stanly; 77 in Moore; 60 in Chesterfield; 54 in Scotland; 46 in Montgomery; 35 in Hoke; 27 in Marlboro; and 126 in Anson.
Johns Hopkins University reports (as of 3:20 p.m. Dec. 30) there have been 340,586 COVID-related deaths in the U.S. and 1,799,099 globally.
CASES
According to DHHS, there were 8,551 new cases reported on Wednesday, topping the previous record set on Dec. 18 by 107. Only four days this month have seen fewer than 4,000 cases.
However, DHHS also announced issues with its reporting system on Tuesday:
“As a result, cases and test data are higher for today than they would have been had data been processed at the standard time. Data reported on Dec. 30, 2020, will be higher as it will represent 36 hours of data, and data reported on Dec. 31, 2020, may be lower as it will represent 12 hours of data.”
The Health Department reported 24 new cases, rising the overall total to 2,615. But with 29 additional recoveries, the number of active cases dropped to 284.
There have been a total of 765 residents to test positive during the month of December. There were 403 positive cases in November and 401 in October.
HOSPITALIZATIONS
The number of North Carolina residents being treated for COVID-19 has steadily risen over the past month, setting new records almost daily..
As of Dec. 29, there were 3,339 hospitalizations statewide, down slightly from the previous day, according to DHHS. The Health Department reported 16 hospitalizations on Tuesday and FirstHealth reports that 88 of its 386 patients (22.8%) are COVID-positive.
TESTING
According to DHHS, there have been 6,835,632 completed tests for the coronavirus in the state, with 532,830 returning positive.
FirstHealth has completed 72,405 tests with 62,339 negative results, 8,799 positive results, and 376 results still pending.
Some individuals have been tested multiple times.
The Health Department announced Tuesday that free COVID-19 testing would continue throughout the month January — except for New Year’s Day — in the parking lot behind the building.
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.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of local cases per age group are as follows (includes recoveries):
- 0-18 – 388 (+5)
- 19-30 – 420 (+2)
- 31-40 – 360 (+5)
- 41-50 – 458 (+6)
- 51-64 – 532 (+2)
- 65-older – 457 (+3)
(+ Denotes increase from previous report)
The total number of cases per ZIP code are as follows:
- Rockingham – 1,415 (149 active)
- Hamlet – 761 (93 active)
- Ellerbe – 226 (32 active)
- Hoffman – 173 (5 active)
- Mount Gilead – 13 (1 active)
- Marston – 26 (4 active)
- Jackson Springs – 1 (0 active)
Current statistics from surrounding counties were not available via DHHS on Wednesday.
