ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County has seen nearly two dozen new COVID-19 cases but only just more than a dozen recoveries in the past four days.
The Richmond County Health Department reported 10 new cases on Monday and six each for Friday and Saturday, bringing the county’s total to 372.
One Tuesday, there were 111 active cases, with 101 under home isolation and the remaining five hospitalized, according to a graphic from the Health Department.
There have also been 2,613 tests to return a negative result since testing began in March.
Fifteen new recoveries were reported on Friday from the previous day, with that total now up to 254 from 239.
On Saturday, North Carolina once again set a new record for the highest number of cases reported in a single day with 2,462, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
From July 4-8, the new per-diem cases numbers were holding between 1,300 and 1,600 prior to another spike.
“Record-high numbers like today are concerning,” NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said in a July 11 press release. “We all have a responsibility to one another to wear a face covering, avoid crowds and wash our hands often to get our trends going back in the right direction.”
Out of 21,222 licensed impatient hospital beds in the state, nearly 4,000 are listed as unreported or reported and unstaffed, according to DHHS. The state reports that 75 percent are in use.
The numbers are about the same for ICU beds, with 77 percent currently in use.
DHHS also reports a 73% availability in ventilators.
As of 1 p.m. Monday, FirstHealth of the Carolinas reported that there are 29 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at its facilities, or 9.1% of its 317 patients.
“Currently, our bed capacity is holding strong,” said Emily Sloan, a spokesperson for the regional hospital system.
The state set a record of hospitalizations on June 10 with 1,034, breaking the 1,000 mark for the first time during the pandemic. That number has been on a downward track since, but was still at 1,040 on Monday.
FirstHealth has completed 13,174 tests for the coronavirus, which includes some retests. Of those, only 1,602 have been positive and 11,244 have been negative, with 186 results pending.
Statewide, there have been 1,220,486 tests completed to date, with 87,528 confirmed positive for COVID-19.
The state announced in a report Monday that 67,124 patients are presumed to have recovered.
As the case numbers continue to rise across the state, the death rate continues to fall. There have been a total of 1,510 deaths attributed to the coronavirus, including seven in Richmond County. Five of those were in the month of June.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of local cases per age group are as follows:
- 0-18 – 44
- 19-30 – 60
- 31-40 – 60
- 41-50 – 69
- 50-64 – 92
- 65-older – 47
The majority of new cases have been those aged 41-64.
The number of cases per ZIP code are as follows:
- Rockingham – 217 (149 recovered)
- Hamlet – 101 (71 recovered)
- Ellerbe – 35 (21 recovered)
- Hoffman – 18 (12 recovered)
- Mount Gilead – 1 – recovered
There are now 23 of the state’s 100 counties that have now experienced more than 1,000 total cases, according to DHHS: Burke, Catawba, Iredell, Chatham, Davidson, Mecklenburg, Gaston, Union, Rowan, Cabarrus, Randolph, Forsyth, Guilford, Alamance, Durham, Wake, Johnston, Wayne, Duplin, Sampson, New Hanover, Cumberland and Robeson counties.
With the exception of New Hanover in the east, those counties form a contiguous arc around the Piedmont.
Orange and Lee counties, with 992 and 950 cases, respectively, could be the next to top the 1,000 mark.
Graham County, in the mountains, bordering Tennessee, still has had only 10 positive cases, according to DHHS .On the coast, Tyrrell, the state’s least-populated county, has spiked over the past week to 53. Currituck (25) and Gates (29) are the only counties in the eastern part of the state with fewer than 30 total cases.
The total numbers (including recoveries) for surrounding counties are as follows:
- Mecklenburg -15,319 (the only county to top 10,000)
- Union – 1,858
- Stanly – 572
- Montgomery – 402
- Anson – 208
- Moore – 613 (101 active)
- Hoke – 467
- Scotland – 170
- Robeson – 1,638
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 Monday, DHHS reported 640 — 27 more than the county.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, which last updated its numbers on July 12, is reporting 459 cases in Chesterfield County and 355 in Marlboro County.
