Coronavirus: Two deaths added to county total

ELIZABETHTOWN — Two deaths linked to coronavirus were added to the aggregate for Bladen County in daily reporting by the state and county.

The Department of Health and Human Services says four lab-confirmed cases were also added, making 825 since the worldwide pandemic began. The county, which counts antigen tests, kept its total number of cases at 862.

There have been 14 deaths and 785 recoveries. Six people remain hospitalized. The county says it is monitoring 63 active cases.

In Tuesday evening’s biweekly update on outbreaks and clusters, numbers since the pandemic began for Bladen East Health and Rehab changed to three deaths of residents, 24 cases among residents and 16 cases among staff. That’s an increase since Friday of one death, one case among residents and three cases among staff.

On the cluster report, there was no change for Emereau: Bladen Charter School, with one staff and five children still listed.

The postal ZIP code report from DHHS lists 241 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 114 in Bladenboro; 88 in East Arcadia; 76 in Clarkton; 66 in White Oak; 53 in Tar Heel; 19 in Kelly; 16 in Council; and eight in Dublin.

The death count went up two in the ZIP for Elizabethtown and White Oak. There has been 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.

Tuesday’s totals from the state included:

• 3,286 deaths, up 39 from Monday’s noon report.

• 195,549 cases, up 1,168.

• 905 hospitalized, up 20.

• 2,824,929 tests, up 7,390.

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 13,433 cases. Cumberland has 75 deaths and 5,178 cases; Robeson has 72 deaths and 4,263 cases; Columbus has 54 deaths and 1,320 cases; Sampson has 24 deaths and 1,765 cases; and Pender has five deaths and 907 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 1,710 deaths and 21,254 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 205 nursing homes, 89 residential care facilities, 35 correctional institutions and eight other facilities. Of those, nine are in Cumberland, four in Sampson, three in Columbus, two in Robeson, and one each in Bladen and Pender.

Bladen, Sampson and Cumberland have one cluster each.

With 96 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 71 percent of the ventilators, 25 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 29 percent of all hospital beds.

In the personal protective equipment category, all categories are at more than one year.

A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 43.1 percent of the deaths (1,417) and 49.1 percent of the cases (96,038).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 342 deaths and 27,687 positive cases, Gaston County has 77 deaths and 4,892 cases, Rowan County has 88 deaths and 3,213 cases, Cabarrus County has 62 deaths and 3,811 cases, and Union County has 58 deaths and 4,611 cases — a total of 627 deaths and 44,214 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 233 deaths and 17,010 cases, Durham County has 91 deaths and 7,563 cases, Johnston County has 55 deaths and 4,263 cases, and Orange County has 55 deaths and 2,604 cases — a total of 434 deaths and 31,440 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 176 deaths and 8,209 cases, Forsyth County has 95 deaths and 6,850 cases, Randolph County has 51 deaths and 2,687 cases, and Davidson County has 34 deaths and 2,638 cases — a total of 356 deaths and 20,384 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 6.8 million confirmed cases and 200,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 5.5 million.

There are more than 31.4 million cases worldwide, with more than 966,000 deaths.