Coronavirus: Bladen’s public schools, including the college, doing well in battle against infection

ELIZABETHTOWN — Public schools’ battle against coronavirus in Bladen County has gotten off to a good start.

The county’s public school system has reported two cases dating back to the middle of the summer, neither charter school has had a development from campus, and Bladen Community College has had just one link for a person having been on campus who then tested positive.

Bladen County Schools has faculty and staff on campus, but students are in remote learning. The district has reported two cases among employees, one from mid-summer and another Aug. 11. Superintendent Dr. Robert Taylor, in an interview Wednesday afternoon, said the first did not involve district facilities but the second did and the protocol to “send everyone home and do deep cleaning” was followed.

To the best of the school system’s knowledge, no other infections were caused as a result of either case, Taylor said.

“We know it could happen, and if it does, then we go into the protocols that are set up,” Taylor said.

This is the first week of instruction. Taylor said plans remain in place to gradually bring students back onto campus in September and October.

Dr. Amanda Lee, president of Bladen Community College, said Wednesday a case previously announced in the summer is the only one for the school. The person had been on campus, then tested positive, and the college followed extra protocols in cleaning, she said. Lee told trustees on Tuesday that administrators were aware of less than five incidents, but was including occasions such as a student with internet-only classes who had not come onto campus letting the school know they had been exposed to someone testing positive.

The college instruction this fall is about 50 percent in-person. Classes resumed this week.

“We’ve been very fortunate,” Lee said.

Emereau, a charter school for kindergarten through ninth grade in Elizabethtown, is doing a hybrid model of instruction with students on campus two days a week and scheduled cleaning on Wednesdays. The school hasn’t had a case develop from campus. Elizabeth Cole, the executive director, said Wednesday afternoon the school had one employee who had not been at work or on campus in a week to test positive; thus, no staff or students had exposure.

Paul R. Brown Leadership Academy, said commandant of students Lt. Col. Carl Lloyd, is doing all remote learning but teachers are on campus. There have been no cases of the virus connected to the campus since classes resumed earlier this month.

In reports from the state Department of Health and Human Services and the county Health Department on Wednesday, one virus case was added pushing the county total since the pandemic began to 659. There have been eight deaths, 605 recoveries and two people are hospitalized. Forty-six cases are considered active, the lowest total since June.

The postal ZIP code report from DHHS lists 181 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 75 in Bladenboro; 60 in White Oak; 58 each in Clarkton and East Arcadia; 46 in Tar Heel; 16 in Kelly; 13 in Council; and seven in Dublin.

The numbers do not match the state’s county total because not all communities are represented. The deaths are credited as one each in Dublin, Bladenboro, Elizabethtown, Tar Heel, White Oak and Kelly. The other two are not linked to a ZIP code unique to Bladen County.

Wednesday’s totals from the state included:

• 2,431 deaths, up 35 from Tuesday.

• 146,779 cases, up 1,153.

• 1,001 hospitalized, down 25.

• 1,978,094 tests, up 26,974.

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 190 deaths and 9,864 cases. Cumberland has 61 deaths and 3,528 cases; Robeson has 56 deaths and 3,102 cases; Columbus has 50 deaths and 1,003 cases; Sampson has 19 deaths and 1,523 cases; and Pender has four deaths and 708 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 1,247 deaths and 14,313 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 188 nursing homes, 102 residential care facilities, 43 correctional institutions and 10 other facilities. Of those, seven are in Cumberland, four in Sampson, two each in Columbus, Robeson and Pender, and one in Bladen.

Cumberland also has two clusters and Bladen has one.

With 91 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 72 percent of the ventilators, 25 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 28 percent of all hospital beds.

In the personal protective equipment category, gloves are at a 64-day supply and all other categories are at least nine months.

A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 46.2 percent of the deaths (1,125) and 51.5 percent of the cases (76,161).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 262 deaths and 23,434 positive cases, Rowan County has 53 deaths and 2,412 cases, Cabarrus County has 50 deaths and 2,840 cases, Union County has 46 deaths and 3,475 cases, and Gaston County has 58 deaths and 3,655 cases — a total of 469 deaths and 35,816 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 187 deaths and 12,951 cases, Durham County has 81 deaths and 6,461 cases, Johnston County has 47 deaths and 3,469 cases, and Orange County has 49 deaths and 1,562 cases — a total of 364 deaths and 24,443 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 160 deaths and 6,069 cases, Forsyth County has 62 deaths and 5,620 cases, Randolph County has 40 deaths and 2,280 cases, and Davidson County has 30 deaths and 1,933 cases — a total of 292 deaths and 15,902 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 5.4 million confirmed cases and 172,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in Brazil, with more than 3.4 million.

There are more than 22.2 million cases worldwide, with more than 782,000 deaths.