Coronavirus: Active cases climb to 58 in Bladen County

ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County’s coronavirus cases have climbed to 58 active.

The county Health Department has reported just two recoveries over the weekend, pushing the total to 1,064 since the pandemic began. Nine cases were added Sunday, pushing that total to 1,141. Nineteen have died.

Active cases numbered 36 just five days ago. There have been 35 added since. The county has not added a death since the Oct. 13 report, a stretch of 26 days that is the longest without a fatality since the time between the second (May 11) and third (June 25) deaths were recorded.

The DHHS postal ZIP code report lists 353 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 218 in Bladenboro; 140 in East Arcadia; 124 in Clarkton; 75 in White Oak; 66 in Tar Heel; 27 in Kelly; 24 in Council; and 10 in Dublin.

There are nine fatalities listed for the ZIP in Elizabethtown and White Oak. There have been two each in East Arcadia and Dublin, and one each in Bladenboro, Tar Heel, White Oak and Kelly. The other two are not linked to a ZIP code unique to Bladen County.

Sunday’s totals from the state included:

• 4,607 deaths, up two from Saturday’s noon report.

• 293,339 cases, up 2,094.

• 1,147 hospitalized, down 49.

• 4,351,935 tests, up 40,824.

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 conditions, the highly contagious virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal.

In Bladen County, the ages 25-49 category has had 40 percent of the cases, 50-64 has 23 percent, 18-24 has 12 percent, 17-and-under has 11 percent, 65-74 has 9 percent and 75-or-older has 5 percent. Of the fatalities, ages 75-and-older has made up 63 percent, 65-74 has 21 percent, 50-64 has 11 percent and 25-49 has 5 percent.

Statewide, the ages 25-49 category has had 40 percent of the cases, 50-64 has 19 percent, 18-24 has 16 percent, 17-and-under has 11 percent, 65-74 has 8 percent and 75-or-older has 7 percent. Of the fatalities, ages 75-and-older has made up 59 percent, 65-74 has 23 percent, 50-64 has 14 percent and 25-49 has 4 percent.

In adjacent counties to Bladen, there have been 320 deaths and 20,770 cases. Cumberland has 105 deaths and 7,758 cases; Robeson has 101 deaths and 6,511 cases; Columbus has 66 deaths and 1,907 cases; Sampson has 31 deaths and 3,056 cases; and Pender has 17 deaths and 1,538 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 2,356 deaths and 31,674 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 225 nursing homes, 123 residential care facilities, 53 correctional institutions and nine other facilities. Of those, seven are in Robeson, six in Cumberland, five in Sampson, four in Pender and three in Columbus.

Robeson and Cumberland each have two clusters; Bladen and Sampson each have one.

With 96 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 72 percent of the ventilators, 22 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 27 percent of all hospital beds.

In the personal protective equipment category, all categories have availability of more than one year.

A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 39.1 percent of the deaths (1,803) and 45.9 percent of the cases (134,573).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 405 deaths and 36,311 positive cases, Gaston County has 145 deaths and 8,321 cases, Rowan County has 121 deaths and 4,519 cases, Cabarrus County has 95 deaths and 5,392 cases, and Union County has 66 deaths and 6,388 cases — a total of 832 deaths and 60,931 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 280 deaths and 23,101 cases, Durham County has 103 deaths and 9,740 cases, Johnston County has 69 deaths and 6,173 cases, and Orange County has 59 deaths and 3,311 cases — a total of 511 deaths and 42,325 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 215 deaths and 12,949 cases, Forsyth County has 129 deaths and 9,975 cases, Randolph County has 69 deaths and 4,252 cases, and Davidson County has 47 deaths and 4,141 cases — a total of 460 deaths and 31,317 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 9.9 million confirmed cases and 237,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 8.5 million.

There are more than 50.2 million cases worldwide, with more than 1.2 million deaths.