Coronavirus: Seventh death recorded in Bladen County

ELIZABETHTOWN — A seventh person in Bladen County has died with a link to the coronavirus.

The state Department of Health and Human Services and the Bladen County Health Department acknowledged the death in their Friday updates. The county did not net add any lab-confirmed cases; it recorded 192 in July and 563 since the pandemic began.

In the detailed outbreak and cluster reports Friday evening, Bladen East Health and Rehab still lists two cases among staff, and the location on Moore’s Swamp Road in Ivanhoe has three cases among staff and 51 among residents. Neither had any changes in this week’s two reports.

The county says four people are hospitalized, 485 have recovered from COVID-19, and 71 cases are considered active.

The postal ZIP code report from DHHS lists 156 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 54 in White Oak; 54 in Bladenboro; 48 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 and seventh deaths have also not been listed with a ZIP code unique to Bladen County.

North Carolina totals released Friday include:

• 1,924 deaths, up 21 from Thursday.

• 122,148 cases, up 1,954.

• 1,229 hospitalized, down 10.

• 1,757,102 tests, up 27,741.

In July, the state added 581 deaths; 57,478 cases; and 847,069 tests. The positive return rate on tests was 6.8 percent. In June, the state had added 457 deaths and 36,081 cases.

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 161 deaths and 8,027 cases. Cumberland has 50 deaths and 2,636 cases; Robeson has 51 deaths and 2,563 cases; Columbus has 45 deaths and 807 cases; Sampson has 12 deaths and 1,411 cases; and Pender has three deaths and 610 cases.

Pender’s cases went up 146 percent in July and Cumberland’s are up 123 percent. Pender County tallied two deaths and 363 cases this month after having had just 247 cases through June 30. Cumberland added nine deaths and 1,456 cases.

Robeson added 13 deaths and 1,362 cases; Columbus added seven deaths and 286 cases; and Sampson added six deaths and 371 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 1,010 deaths and 11,429 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 164 nursing homes, 94 residential care facilities, 34 correctional institutions and 17 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 91 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 73 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, gowns have 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.

A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 46.6 percent of the deaths (896) and 53.1 percent of the cases (64,847).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 199 deaths and 20,502 positive cases, Rowan County has 48 deaths and 1,957 cases, Cabarrus County has 42 deaths and 2,342 cases, Union County has 38 deaths and 2,720 cases, and Gaston County has 33 deaths and 2,939 cases — a total of 360 deaths and 30,460 cases.

Mecklenburg County added 53 deaths and 9,332 cases in July.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 128 deaths and 10,859 cases, Durham County has 77 deaths and 5,761 cases, Johnston County has 43 deaths and 2,929 cases, and Orange County has 45 deaths and 1,266 cases — a total of 293 deaths and 20,815 cases.

Wake County’s cases more than doubled in July, going up 5,799.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 142 deaths and 5,093 cases, Forsyth County has 48 deaths and 4,833 cases, Randolph County has 36 deaths and 2,026 cases, and Davidson County has 17 deaths and 1,620 cases — a total of 243 deaths and 13,572 cases.

Guilford County’s cases went up 2,281 in July.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 4.5 million confirmed cases and 152,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in Brazil, with more than 2.6 million.

There are more than 17.4 million cases worldwide, with more than 675,000 deaths.