ROCKINGHAM — With the Richmond County Board of Education set to make a decision Tuesday evening on whether or not students can return to the classroom, the Health Department is reporting 32 more residents have tested positive for COVID-19.
Of those, six were children 18 years old or younger.
Richmond County Schools reports that three virtual students — one each at L.J. Bell, Hamlet Middle and Richmond Senior — have tested positive.
The district also reports that one staff member each from Ashley Chapel Educational Center and Richmond Senior have tested positive.
For the first time since Jan. 7, the number of active cases in the county has dropped below 400 to 398. The Health Department estimates 45 residents recovered within the past 24 hours.
There has only been one reporting day this month with fewer than 25 cases. The county has averaged 33.6 positive cases per day during the month of January, which has now set record highs for the number of cases (828) and COVID-related deaths (17), with the latest being reported Tuesday morning.
Statewide cases continue a downward trend with 3,978 reported Tuesday by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services — the first time this month daily cases have dipped below 4,000 since Dec. 29. This marks only the third day cases totaled fewer than 5,000.
Hospitalizations, which had been sloping downward over the past week, rose Monday to 3,368.
Richmond County’s COVID-related hospitalizations increased by two to 22 on Tuesday, after hitting a high of 27 on Jan. 21. FirstHealth reported 88 of its 380 patients (23%) were COVID-positive and Scotland Memorial Hospital had 40 COVID patients isolated.
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. 31.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of local cases per age group are as follows (includes recoveries):
(+ Denotes increase from the previous day.)
The number of active cases per ZIP code are as follows:
