TAR HEEL — State officials continued Monday to withhold coronavirus information connected to the Smithfield Foods plant.
The plant is one of 23 in 14 counties across the state that are considered meat-processing facilities and have an outbreak of COVID-19. Those 23 plants are connected to 1,208 cases of a virus that has killed 550 and generated 15,045 cases in a state with an estimated population of 10.5 million.
The state defines an outbreak as two or more.
In Monday’s report from the Department of Health and Human Services, there were 464 people hospitalized. Every county except for Avery has reported a positive case. The state death toll rose by three and for the first time in weeks did not include any from congregate living settings.
“As this pandemic continues to evolve, we continually reassess the appropriateness of data reporting to balance transparency, public health and patient privacy as we also respond to this crisis,” DHHS spokeswoman Amy Adams Ellis wrote in an email to the Bladen Journal, declining to name the companies with outbreaks, their locations, and the number of deaths and cases associated with each.
In addition to Bladen County, there are outbreaks in meat-processing plants in Bertie, Burke, Chatham, Duplin, Lee, Lenoir, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Surry, Union, Wilkes and Wilson counties.
Bladen County, in the state report, has just one death. Its number of cases rose to 54 on Monday, and has climbed by 28 in the last eight reporting days. There has been at least one case reported in the county on 19 of the last 20 days. The county didn’t report its second case until April 18, some 24 days and 53 cases ago.
By ZIP codes, cases number 13 in Elizabethtown, nine in Tar Heel, eight in White Oak, four in Bladenboro, three in Council, two in Clarkton, and zero in Kelly. The one death was in White Oak. The numbers do not match the state’s county total because not all ZIP codes are represented.
In congregate living settings there have been 339 deaths, or 61.6 percent of the state’s total, and 3,697 positive cases, or 24.6 percent. Outbreaks have been identified at 63 nursing homes, 23 residential care facilities, 17 correctional institutions and six other facilities. Of those, four are in Columbus, two in Cumberland and one in Pender.
Analyzation of key metrics, as defined by Gov. Roy Cooper and Dr. Mandy Cohen, shows a leveling off in number of COVID-19 cases reported daily since the last days of April. The number of tests daily has increased to well above 5,000 on average since April 30, and the number of tests returned positive since April 19 has been decreasing. Hospitalizations have been considered leveling off since about mid-April, when the number eclipsed 400; it has been above 500 on nine of the last 13 reports.
The estimated supply of personal protective equipment remains very low for gowns, but is above 30 days supply for N95 respirators, face shields, gloves, and surgical and procedure masks.
These are factors in the state’s decision to implement a three-phase approach to reopening North Carolina to commerce. The first phase began Friday, and the second could start as soon as May 22. Cooper has said the third phase would not start until four to six weeks after the second phase, which equates to June 19 at the earliest pending future modifications.
The DHHS report said 83 percent of the state’s hospitals were reporting availability of 2,709 ventilators (80.1 percent), 6,346 empty hospital beds (35.3 percent) and 872 empty intensive care unit beds (27.1 percent).
In adjacent counties, there are 29 deaths and 1,153 cases. Cumberland has nine deaths and 351 cases; Columbus has 14 deaths and 205 cases; Robeson has four deaths and 391 cases; Sampson has one death and 167 cases; and Pender has one death and 39 cases.
A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 287 deaths and 7,378 cases, or 52.2 percent of the deaths and 49 percent of the cases.
In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 62 deaths and 2,134 positive cases, Rowan County has 24 deaths and 488 cases, Cabarrus County has 17 deaths and 350 cases, Union County has 16 deaths and 301 cases, and Gaston County has five deaths and 175 cases — a total of 124 deaths and 3,448 cases.
In and near the Triangle area, Durham County has 32 deaths and 873 cases, Wake County has 23 deaths and 1,048 cases, Orange County has 33 deaths and 253 cases, and Johnston County has 16 deaths and 209 cases — a total of 104 deaths and 2,383 cases.
In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 38 deaths and 609 cases, Davidson County has 10 deaths and 205 cases, Forsyth County has five deaths and 379 cases, and Randolph County has six deaths and 354 cases — a total of 59 deaths and 1,547 cases.
The state reports 46 percent of those infected are ages 50 and over, and 97 percent of the deaths are for that age group as well. Fifty-one percent of the cases are women, 48 percent are men and the rest are unconfirmed. Men account for 53 percent of the deaths.
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