ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County has surpassed 300 total cases of the coronavirus.
The Richmond County Health Department on Thursday reported 10 new cases, bringing the total to 307 in less than three months. The first case was reported April 7.
That makes 40 cases in the past four days.
The county reported the highest one-day case total on July 1 with 16 new cases.
“I don’t know that we have a specific reason” for the increase in case, Health and Human Services Director Dr. Tommy Jarrell said.
However, he said it’s likely because people are getting out and traveling and socializing more than they did in the early days of the lockdown.
It’s likely there could be more positive cases in the near future, as Thursday saw the highest number of completed tests at 24,630, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Of the 971,120 completed tests statewide, 68,142 have been positive, or just more than 7%. In Richmond County, 2,290 tests have returned a negative result.
Task and Purpose reported June 30 that 82 of 110 soldiers taking part in survival training at Camp Mackall tested positive for COVID-19.
There have been 1,391 deaths across the state attributed to the coronavirus. Seven of those have been in Richmond County, including two this week.
Numbers show the daily death total has been on the decline since reaching a high of 32 on May 25. June 28 had the fewest number of deaths (3) since April 6.
Richmond County also saw 18 additional recoveries on Thursday, bringing that total to 213. DHHS estimated on Monday that there have been 45,538 recoveries statewide.
The county currently has 86 active cases, with one hospitalized and the rest under home isolation.
The state reported 912 hospitalizations on Thursday.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of local cases per age group are as follows:
- 0-18 – 35
- 19-30 – 56
- 31-40 – 42
- 41-50 – 55
- 50-64 – 77
- 65-older – 41
The number of cases per ZIP code are as follows:
- Rockingham – 176 (129 recovered)
- Hamlet – 84 (60 recovered)
- Ellerbe – 29 (13 recovered)
- Hoffman – 16 (10 recovered)
- Mount Gilead – 1 – recovered
Nineteen of the state’s 100 counties have now experienced more than 1,000 total cases, according to DHHS, with Davidson joining Burke, Mecklenburg, Gaston, Union, Rowan Cabarrus, Randolph, Forsyth, Guilford, Alamance, Durham, Wake, Johnston, Wayne, Duplin, Sampson, Cumberland and Robeson counties.
With the exception of Burke, those counties almost form a contiguous arc around the Piedmont.
Chatham County, with 964 cases, could be next.
Graham and Clay counties, both in the mountains, only have 10 cases each. On the coast, the counties with the fewest cases are Tyrrell (11) and Hyde (12).
The total numbers (including recoveries) for surrounding counties are as follows:
- Mecklenburg -11,803
- Union – 1,311
- Stanly – 411
- Montgomery – 321
- Anson – 138
- Moore – 499 (126 active)
- Hoke – 388
- Scotland – 142
- Robeson – 1,264
All numbers except Moore are from DHHS, which is from the local health department, as there has been a discrepancy with the state showing fewer cases. However, on Thursday, DHHS recorded 500.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, which last updated its numbers on July 1, is reporting 376 cases in Chesterfield County and 310 in Marlboro County.
