CLARKTON — Bladen County Schools said in a release Wednesday an employee at Clarkton School of Discovery has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The school district said protocols for deep cleaning and notifications are being followed.

In the day’s daily report from the state Department of Health and Human Services, and the county Health Department, Bladen County’s number of virus cases rose by five, reaching 808 since the pandemic began. Seventy-three cases are considered active, including 12 hospitalizations. There have been 723 recoveries and 12 deaths.

The postal ZIP code report from DHHS lists 233 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 105 in Bladenboro; 82 in East Arcadia; 74 in Clarkton; 66 in White Oak; 53 in Tar Heel; 19 in Kelly; 16 in Council; and seven in Dublin.

In addition to three deaths in the ZIP for Elizabethtown and White Lake, there is one each in East Arcadia, Dublin, Bladenboro, Tar Heel, White Oak and Kelly. The other three are not linked to a ZIP code unique to Bladen County.

Wednesday’s totals from the state included:

• 3,149 deaths, up 38 from Tuesday’s noon report.

• 188,024 cases, up 1,137.

• 918 hospitalized, up two.

• 2,683,384 tests, up 30,944.

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 224 deaths and 12,789 cases. Cumberland has 75 deaths and 4,829 cases; Robeson has 69 deaths and 4,113 cases; Columbus has 53 deaths and 1,280 cases; Sampson has 22 deaths and 1,720 cases; and Pender has five deaths and 847 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 1,642 deaths and 20,140 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 204 nursing homes, 91 residential care facilities, 35 correctional institutions and nine other facilities. Of those, eight are in Cumberland, three in Sampson and Columbus, two in Robeson, and one each in Bladen and Pender.

Bladen and Sampson have one cluster each.

With 96 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 70 percent of the ventilators, 23 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 27 percent of all hospital beds.

In the personal protective equipment category, all categories are at more than six months.

A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 43.7 percent of the deaths (1,377) and 49.6 percent of the cases (93,251).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 335 deaths and 27,125 positive cases, Gaston County has 73 deaths and 4,659 cases, Rowan County has 86 deaths and 3,083 cases, Cabarrus County has 59 deaths and 3,663 cases, and Union County has 56 deaths and 4,456 cases — a total of 609 deaths and 42,986 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 220 deaths and 16,530 cases, Durham County has 88 deaths and 7,381 cases, Johnston County has 54 deaths and 4,154 cases, and Orange County has 54 deaths and 2,543 cases — a total of 416 deaths and 30,608 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 176 deaths and 7,842 cases, Forsyth County has 94 deaths and 6,694 cases, Randolph County has 49 deaths and 2,618 cases, and Davidson County has 33 deaths and 2,503 cases — a total of 352 deaths and 19,657 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 6.6 million confirmed cases and 196,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 5 million.

There are more than 29.7 million cases worldwide, with more than 938,000 deaths.

Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com. Twitter: @alanwooten19.