ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County’s number of coronavirus positive cases dropped by two Tuesday.
The county Health Department and the state Department of Health and Human Services says 92 people have been infected, and there have been two deaths. The number of recoveries in the county is 64.
Statewide, there have been 766 deaths and 24,140 lab-confirmed cases. The state says 352,331 tests have been completed, and 621 are hospitalized. The number of deaths is up 12, and cases increased by 176.
On May 10, the state reported 442 people hospitalized. The total has trended upward for 15 days, a time period also marked by a continued rise in the number of tests completed. The number of confirmed cases, by seven-day rolling average, also rose during that time until Saturday.
The back-to-back days without adding a case in Bladen County is the first time since April 16-17, when there was just one case reported. The second case was recorded April 18, and only four days since had not included at least one case added.
In the DHHS postal breakdown, the ZIP code for Elizabethtown and White Lake has 20 cases. There have been 11 each in Tar Heel, Clarkton and Bladenboro, nine in White Oak, six in Council, four in East Arcadia, two in Dublin, and one in Kelly. The numbers do not match the state’s county total because not all communities are represented; the addition of Dublin’s ZIP code on Tuesday was new.
In adjacent counties, there have been 49 deaths and 2,044 cases. Cumberland has 15 deaths and 590 cases; Columbus has 21 deaths and 299 cases; Robeson has 11 deaths and 674 cases; Sampson has one death and 409 cases; and Pender has one death and 72 cases.
Congregate living settings have reported 480 deaths and 4,859 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified at 83 nursing homes, 36 residential care facilities, 18 correctional institutions and six other facilities. Of those, five are in Columbus, four in Robeson, three in Cumberland, and one in Pender.
The state defines an outbreak as two or more.
With 81 percent of hospitals reporting, the state reports availability of 76 percent of ventilators, 19 percent of intensive care unit beds, and 29 percent of hospital beds.
In the personal protective equipment category, gowns remain in need but went from a 0 days supply to 29. N95 respirator masks went from having more than a 30-day supply to having just a 19-day supplement.
There was no significant change to the number of cases involving the state’s three largest urban areas. They have about half of the cases and deaths.
There was also no big change in age and gender breakdown. Those 50-and-over account for 96 percent of the deaths and 42 percent of the cases, with ages 25-49 having 44 percent of the cases. The split of cases and deaths is close to even between men and women.