Coronavirus: County cases, in both metrics, go up

ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County’s total of lab-confirmed coronavirus cases went up in metrics tracked by the county and state on Saturday.

The county, which counts antigen tests, increased its total by 10 to 859 since the worldwide pandemic began; the state rose eight to 818, respectively.

The state Department of Health and Human Services is one of about 20 in the nation that does not count antigen tests.

The county says there are 84 active cases being monitored, and 775 have recovered from the virus.

Both the county and state count 12 deaths.

The postal ZIP code report from DHHS lists 239 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 111 in Bladenboro; 86 in East Arcadia; 76 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.

Saturday’s totals from the state included:

• 3,235 deaths, up 28 from Friday’s noon report. Sixteen were in congregate living settings.

• 192,248 cases, up 1,229.

• 882 hospitalized, down 22.

• 2,771,020 tests, up 22,000.

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 230 deaths and 13,180 cases. Cumberland has 75 deaths and 5,018 cases; Robeson has 72 deaths and 4,218 cases; Columbus has 54 deaths and 1,305 cases; Sampson has 24 deaths and 1,751 cases; and Pender has five deaths and 888 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 1,686 deaths and 20,704 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 212 nursing homes, 92 residential care facilities, 34 correctional institutions and seven other facilities. Of those, nine 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, 24 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 43.3 percent of the deaths (1,401) and 49.3 percent of the cases (94,839).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 339 deaths and 27,431 positive cases, Gaston County has 75 deaths and 4,806 cases, Rowan County has 87 deaths and 3,155 cases, Cabarrus County has 61 deaths and 3,739 cases, and Union County has 58 deaths and 4,553 cases — a total of 620 deaths and 43,684 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 228 deaths and 16,812 cases, Durham County has 90 deaths and 7,486 cases, Johnston County has 55 deaths and 4,217 cases, and Orange County has 54 deaths and 2,570 cases — a total of 427 deaths and 31,085 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 176 deaths and 8,064 cases, Forsyth County has 94 deaths and 6,786 cases, Randolph County has 50 deaths and 2,645 cases, and Davidson County has 34 deaths and 2,575 cases — a total of 354 deaths and 20,070 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 6.7 million confirmed cases and 198,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 5.3 million.

There are more than 30.5 million cases worldwide, with more than 953,000 deaths.