Coronavirus: County has 72 active cases

ELIZABETHTOWN — Seventy-two lab-confirmed coronavirus cases are active in Bladen County, the Health Department said Thursday.

Six more cases were added in the noon daily report, pushing to 814 the total since the pandemic began. Eleven are hospitalized. There have been 12 fatalities and 730 people have recovered from the virus.

The postal ZIP code report from DHHS lists 236 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 107 in Bladenboro; 82 in East Arcadia; 75 in Clarkton; 66 in White Oak; 53 in Tar Heel; 19 in Kelly; 16 in Council; and seven in Dublin.

There have been three deaths in the ZIP for Elizabethtown and White Lake, and 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.

Thursday’s totals from the state included:

• 3,180 deaths, up 31 from Wednesday’s noon report. Twelve were in congregate living settings.

• 189,576 cases, up 1,552.

• 894 hospitalized, down 24.

• 2,714,175 tests, up 30,791.

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 227 deaths and 12,967 cases. Cumberland has 75 deaths and 4,902 cases; Robeson has 71 deaths and 4,173 cases; Columbus has 53 deaths and 1,290 cases; Sampson has 23 deaths and 1,737 cases; and Pender has five deaths and 865 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 1,654 deaths and 20,349 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 201 nursing homes, 87 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 71 percent of the ventilators, 23 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 26 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 43.5 percent of the deaths (1,384) and 49.5 percent of the cases (93,836).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 337 deaths and 27,235 positive cases, Gaston County has 74 deaths and 4,730 cases, Rowan County has 86 deaths and 3,109 cases, Cabarrus County has 60 deaths and 3,684 cases, and Union County has 57 deaths and 4,488 cases — a total of 614 deaths and 43,246 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 222 deaths and 16,663 cases, Durham County has 88 deaths and 7,418 cases, Johnston County has 54 deaths and 4,192 cases, and Orange County has 54 deaths and 2,552 cases — a total of 418 deaths and 30,825 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 176 deaths and 7,909 cases, Forsyth County has 94 deaths and 6,707 cases, Randolph County has 49 deaths and 2,630 cases, and Davidson County has 33 deaths and 2,519 cases — a total of 352 deaths and 19,765 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 6.6 million confirmed cases and 197,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 5.1 million.

There are more than 29.9 million cases worldwide, with more than 942,000 deaths.