Coronavirus: County has added 27 cases in last two days combined

ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County has added 27 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the last two days.

Fourteen more were tallied on Thursday. There have been 563 since the pandemic began. Eight people are hospitalized and 475 have recovered from the virus, the county said. There are 82 cases considered active.

The postal ZIP code report from DHHS lists 155 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 54 in White Oak; 53 in Bladenboro; 45 in East Arcadia; 40 in Clarkton; 36 in Tar Heel; 12 in Council; 10 in Kelly; and six in Dublin.

The numbers do not match the state’s county total because not all communities are represented. Two deaths were in Bladenboro, and one each in Tar Heel and White Oak; one has not been included since the third death was reported June 25. The sixth death recorded Tuesday has also not been listed with a ZIP code unique to Bladen County.

North Carolina totals released Thursday include:

• 1,903 deaths, up 38 from Wednesday.

• 116,087 cases, up 2,344.

• 1,239 hospitalized, down 33.

• 1,658,973 tests, up 30,517.

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 158 deaths and 7,889 cases. Cumberland has 50 deaths and 2,560 cases; Robeson has 50 deaths and 2,531 cases; Columbus has 44 deaths and 799 cases; Sampson has 11 deaths and 1,402 cases; and Pender has three deaths and 597 cases.

Pender County has tallied 350 cases this month; it had 247 total through June 30.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 1,002 deaths and 11,288 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 160 nursing homes, 90 residential care facilities, 31 correctional institutions and 16 other facilities. Of those, six are in Sampson, four in Robeson, three in Cumberland, two in Bladen, and one each in Pender and Columbus. There is also one cluster in Cumberland County.

The state defines an outbreak as two or more.

With 89 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 72 percent of the ventilators, 22 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 25 percent of all hospital beds.

In the personal protective equipment category, a sudden drop of available gowns has left only a 35-day supply. There is an 84-day supply of gloves, and 129 days for face shields. Procedural masks (249) and N95 respirators (619) are much higher. On Monday, there had been a 96-day supply of gloves and all other categories were nearly eight months, or at least 235 days.

A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 46.6 percent of the deaths (887) and 53.2 percent of the cases (63,962).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 195 deaths and 20,261 positive cases, Rowan County has 46 deaths and 1,940 cases, Cabarrus County has 41 deaths and 2,316 cases, Union County has 38 deaths and 2,671 cases, and Gaston County has 33 deaths and 2,863 cases — a total of 353 deaths and 30,051 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 126 deaths and 10,641 cases, Durham County has 77 deaths and 5,687 cases, Johnston County has 43 deaths and 2,895 cases, and Orange County has 45 deaths and 1,250 cases — a total of 291 deaths and 20,473 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 142 deaths and 5,042 cases, Forsyth County has 48 deaths and 4,791 cases, Randolph County has 36 deaths and 1,999 cases, and Davidson County has 17 deaths and 1,606 cases — a total of 243 deaths and 13,438 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 4.4 million confirmed cases and 151,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in Brazil, with more than 2.5 million.

There are more than 17.1 million cases worldwide, with more than 668,000 deaths.