ROCKINGHAM — Hours after reporting the county’s 41st COVID-related death, the Richmond County Health Department announced 33 new cases of the coronavirus.
The latest update brings the month’s total to 107 in just the first three days of December. The Health Department reported 51 cases on Wednesday and 23 on Tuesday.
There are currently 203 active cases — 194 under home isolation, nine hospitalized — breaking the previous high of 193 on Nov. 20.
The state also set a new one-day record with cases spiking 5,637, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The previous record was set Nov. 22 with 4,514.
“We must get these numbers down by people and businesses following our existing strong Executive Orders on masks, lower occupancy, closures and gathering limits,” Gov. Roy Cooper said on Twitter.
Many people commented on the governor’s tweet calling for tighter restrictions and another lockdown, including closing schools again.
“You won’t get lower numbers if you keep restaurants, gyms, and barbers open,” replied Ed K4EGP. “If you really want to reduce spread and case counts, shut down all non-essential businesses.”
M. Scott suggested having “police arrest those who are in public without” a mask and “give them a large fine.”
Just before Thanksgiving, Cooper tightened the statewide mask mandate, which allows law enforcement to cite people not exempt for not wearing masks, as well as cite businesses for not enforcing the executive order.
The governor has said several times that he didn’t want to take the state backwards in his reopening plan.
Statewide hospitalizations also hit a new high Wednesday of 2,101 patients being treated, according to DHHS. Those numbers have been on the rise since mid-November after remaining relatively stagnant through October.
FirstHealth reported on Thursday that 50 of its 376 patients (13.3%) are being treated for COVID-19.
DHHS reports there have been a total of 5,409,434 tests completed in the state, with 377,231 positive cases.
Of the 59,043 tests completed by FirstHealth: 6,262 have been positive; 51,695 have been negative; and 462 results are still pending.
Richmond County has had 18,311 negative test results, 1,957 positive results, and 1,713 recoveries.
Free testing COVID in the parking lot behind the Human Services Complex on Caroline Street has been extended until Dec. 31. Testing will run from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
On Thursday, the Health Department also two additional test sites:
Each site is closed for lunch from noon-12:30 p.m.
Register for testing by visiting www.lhi.care and following the directions at the top or by calling 877-562-4850.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of local cases per age group are as follows (includes recoveries):
( + indicates the increase in cases per age group from the previous report.)
The total number of cases per ZIP code are as follows:
Seventy of the state’s 100 counties have now experienced more than 1,000 total cases, and five others — Anson, Avery, Bertie, Cherokee and Macon — are nearing that mark with more than 900 each.
Only three counties have had fewer than 200 cases, and they are all in the northeast corner of the state: Tyrrell (141), Camden (191), and Hyde (188). Gates County, which was previously among that group, now has had 220 cases.
The total numbers (including recoveries) for surrounding counties are as follows:
All numbers are from DHHS except Moore, which are from the local health department, as there has been a discrepancy with the state.
Robeson, Hoke and Montgomery counties are among those listed as having critical community spread by DHHS.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is reporting (as of Dec. 1) 1,800 total cases and 54 deaths in Chesterfield County and 1,467 cases and 19 deaths in Marlboro County.
