ELIZABETHTOWN — Health officials at the state and county level made it official on Friday.
Bladen County’s 10th death linked to the coronavirus was added to both agencies’ tally. The county Health Department originally filed it on Monday, but the state Department of Health and Human Services did not add it until four days later. The county number during the week was 10 and then dropped back to nine until the state made the change.
The previous fatalities were logged in reports for May 6, May 11, June 25, July 9, July 28, Aug. 13, Aug. 15, Aug. 18, and Aug. 21.
In the detailed outbreak and clusters report released twice a week, an Elizabethtown nursing home remains listed with two staff members, and an Ivanhoe educational facility is listed with five staff members.
Five more lab-confirmed cases were added for the county, pushing to 694 the total since the pandemic began. There is one person hospitalized, 641 have recovered and 43 cases are being monitored.
The postal ZIP code report from DHHS lists 187 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 80 in Bladenboro; 68 in East Arcadia; 64 in Clarkton; 61 in White Oak; 48 in Tar Heel; 16 in Kelly; 13 in Council; and seven in Dublin. Deaths number two in the ZIP for Elizabethtown and White Lake, and one each in Dublin, Bladenboro, Tar Heel, White Oak and Kelly. The other three are not linked to a ZIP code unique to Bladen County.
The numbers do not match the state’s county total because not all communities are represented.
Friday’s totals from the state included:
• 2,652 deaths, up 22 from Thursday’s noon report.
• 162,491 cases, up 1,415.
• 970 hospitalized, up 12.
• 2,182,891 tests, up 30,166.
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 200 deaths and 10,781 cases. Cumberland has 65 deaths and 3,949 cases; Robeson has 60 deaths and 3,404 cases; Columbus has 51 deaths and 1,083 cases; Sampson has 20 deaths and 1,591 cases; and Pender has four deaths and 754 cases.
Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 1,342 deaths and 16,231 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 200 nursing homes, 109 residential care facilities, 46 correctional institutions and eight other facilities. Of those, eight are in Cumberland, three each in Sampson and Pender, two in Columbus, and one each in Bladen and Robeson.
Cumberland also has two clusters, and Bladen and Sampson have one each.
With 93 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 27 percent of all hospital beds.
In the personal protective equipment category, the supply of gloves is at a 93 days supply; all other categories are at least nine months.
A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 45.4 percent of the deaths (1,204) and 50.9 percent of the cases (82,864).
In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 284 deaths and 24,847 positive cases, Gaston County has 63 deaths and 3,969 cases, Rowan County has 60 deaths and 2,725 cases, Cabarrus County has 52 deaths and 3,094 cases, and Union County has 48 deaths and 3,830 cases — a total of 507 deaths and 38,465 cases.
In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 198 deaths and 14,536 cases, Durham County has 83 deaths and 6,790 cases, Johnston County has 50 deaths and 3,746 cases, and Orange County has 50 deaths and 2,170 cases — a total of 381 deaths and 27,242 cases.
In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 170 deaths and 6,636 cases, Forsyth County has 71 deaths and 6,014 cases, Randolph County has 43 deaths and 2,379 cases, and Davidson County has 32 deaths and 2,128 cases — a total of 316 deaths and 17,157 cases.
According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 5.9 million confirmed cases and 181,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in Brazil, with more than 3.7 million.
There are more than 24.5 million cases worldwide, with more than 833,000 deaths.
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