Coronavirus: Bladen County records 4th death, first since June 25

ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County has recorded a fourth death related to COVID-19.

The news came Tuesday in the daily report from the state Department of Health and Human Services. The county added another seven lab-confirmed cases, moving the total since the pandemic began to 406.

It is the first death in the county since the June 25 report. The first two were in May, recorded on the 6th and 11th. Three of the four are represented in Tuesday’s DHHS postal ZIP code report in Tar Heel, White Oak and Bladenboro, the latter of which was just added Tuesday.

The ZIP code report lists 105 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 31 in Clarkton; 30 in White Oak; 29 in East Arcadia and Bladenboro; 22 in Tar Heel; seven in Council; six in Kelly; and five in Dublin. The numbers do not match the state’s county total because not all communities are represented.

In the DHHS report Tuesday evening on outbreaks and clusters at congregate living settings, the number of cases increased as the Moore’s Swamp Road location in Ivanhoe. There are now three cases among staff, and 51 among residents. The report also lists 54 cases among staff at the Sleep Creek Drive outbreak in the Harrells community, and two cases among residents at Cape Fear Teen Challenge in Elizabethtown.

The Ivanhoe location had 13 when first reported June 23 and had not changed since. The outbreaks in Harrells and Elizabethtown are unchanged since June 16 and June 9, respectively.

The county Health Department said Tuesday there have been an estimated 301 recoveries and four people are hospitalized. There are 101 active cases.

North Carolina’s totals released Tuesday include:

• 1,420 deaths, up 22 from Monday.

• 75,875 cases, up 1,346.

• 989 hospitalized, up seven.

• 1,051,846 tests, up 19,444.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the highly contagious virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal.

In adjacent counties to Bladen, there have been 131 deaths and 4,775 cases. Cumberland has 41 deaths and 1,402 cases; Robeson has 42 deaths and 1,383 cases; Columbus has 39 deaths and 570 cases; Sampson has seven deaths and 1,117 cases; and Pender has two deaths and 303 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 828 deaths and 8,090 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 132 nursing homes, 75 residential care facilities, 21 correctional institutions and 11 other facilities. Of those, five each are in Cumberland and Robeson, and three each are in Bladen, Columbus and Sampson. There is also one cluster in Cumberland County.

With 89 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 73 percent of the ventilators, 25 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 29 percent of all hospital beds.

In the personal protective equipment category, no category has less than an 84-day supply. Gloves were at 101 days on Monday, but dropped Tuesday. Reports nationally indicate there is a growing shortage for some forms of personal protective equipment.

The Associated Press reported, “a national nursing union is concerned that gear has to be reused; a doctors association warns that physicians’ offices are closed because they cannot get masks and other supplies; and Democratic members of Congress are pushing the Trump administration to devise a national strategy to acquire and distribute gear in anticipation of the crisis worsening into the fall.”

A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 46.5 percent of the deaths (660) and 54.3 percent of the cases (41,230).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 154 deaths and 13,317 positive cases, Rowan County has 41 deaths and 1,361 cases, Cabarrus County has 33 deaths and 1,399 cases, Union County has 25 deaths and 1,551 cases, and Gaston County has 12 deaths and 1,443 cases — a total of 265 deaths and 19,071 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Durham County has 67 deaths and 4,148 cases, Wake County has 52 deaths and 6,299 cases, Johnston County has 33 deaths and 1,789 cases, and Orange County has 42 deaths and 848 cases — a total of 194 deaths and 13,084 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 118 deaths and 3,208 cases, Forsyth County has 37 deaths and 3,423 cases, Randolph County has 31 deaths and 1,330 cases, and Davidson County has 15 deaths and 1,114 cases — a total of 201 deaths and 9,075 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 2.9 million confirmed cases and 130,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in Brazil, with more than 1.6 million.

There are more than 11.6 million cases worldwide, with more than 540,000 deaths.