ROCKINGHAM — The number of active COVID-19 cases in Richmond County continues to drop, despite new positive cases.
The Richmond County Health Department on Tuesday reported 30 new cases of the coronavirus.
However, 47 additional recoveries from the previous day dropped the number of active cases to 429.
Active cases had dropped to 236 at the end of December, but a surge in new cases for the new year took that number as high as 504 on Jan. 14.
There have now been 617 cases for the month of January. There were just over 400 for both October and November and more than 800 in December.
Statewide numbers have been on a downward trend for the past several days, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
New daily cases dropped to 4,058 on Tuesday — sinking below 5,000 for the first time this month and the lowest since Dec. 29.
Although DHHS did not release information on Monday, the number of new cases for that day was 5,802.
The number of statewide COVID-related hospitalizations also dropped by 17 to 3,881 on Monday. (Hospital figures are a day behind.)
Local hospitalizations hit a high of 25 on Tuesday. There have been at least 20 county residents in a hospital since Jan. 8.
FirstHealth reported that 98 of its 377 patients (26%) are COVID-positive and Scotland Memorial Hospital reported 40 patients were isolated with the coronavirus.
Earlier in the day, the Health Department reported the county’s 9th COVID-related death this month, the 62nd since last April. There have been 8,139 across the state.
FirstHealth and the Health Department also announced that residents 65 and older can now receive the Moderna vaccine by appointment.
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.
There will also be free rapid testing at the Dobbins Heights Community Center Jan. 22 and 31.
Of all the tests performed on county residents, 25,559 have returned a negative result and 3,319 have been positive.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of local cases per age group are as follows (includes recoveries):
- 0-18 – 501 (+5)
- 19-30 – 530 (+2)
- 31-40 – 442 (+14)
- 41-50 – 554 (+6)
- 51-64 – 700 (+9)
- 65-older – 592 (+7)
(+ Denotes increase from previous report.)
The number of active cases per ZIP code are as follows:
- Rockingham – 260
- Hamlet – 120
- Ellerbe – 36
- Hoffman – 7
- Mount Gilead – 2
- Marston – 4
The number of cases for the past 14 days (including recoveries) for surrounding counties are as follows:
- Mecklenburg -11,317
- Union – 2,811
- Stanly – 823
- Montgomery – 427
- Anson – 301
- Moore – 1,017 (currently 648 active)
- Hoke – 460
- Scotland – 358
- Robeson – 1,771
