ROCKINGHAM — Health officials on Thursday announced Richmond County’s second death attributed to the coronavirus.
Health and Human Services Director Dr. Tommy Jarrell also said that the county’s COVID-19 case count has risen to 16 as of 2 p.m. Earlier in the day, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services was showing 15.
Including in Jarrell’s daily update was a table showing the ages of each case number and a map showing the number of patients by ZIP code.
Eleven of the coronavirus patients have a Rockingham address, four live in the Hamlet area and one resides in or near Hoffman.
The ages of the patients, by case, are: 50, 31, 70, 63, 61, 41, 54, 30, 51, 70, 82, 38, 66, 74, 64, 56.
The first two cases are believed to be related to out-of-county travel for work and four of the cases are connected to the outbreak at a Pinehurst nursing home. The rest are thought to be community spread.
In addition to the two deceased patients, four are currently hospitalized and the remaining 10 are under home isolation.
Jarrell says 366 residents have been tested and of the 98 percent of results that have been returned, 334 have been negative.
Anyone wishing to be tested at the Sandhills Regional Medical Center facility in Hamlet must be referred by a physician, the health department or by calling the county’s COVID-19 hotline at 910-417-4947. Potential patients are screened for symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath) to determine if the COVID-19 test should be collected.
The facility is open for testing Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
