ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County set a new single-day high for active coronavirus cases on Wednesday at 272.

The county is six higher than the previous day after adding 34 cases and 28 recoveries. Six people are hospitalized. Since the pandemic began, there have been 26 deaths, 1,977 cases, and 1,679 recoveries.

The county Health Department, in its release, said it will begin to give vaccinations to the ages 75 and up population of the county. A phone number to call for an appointment was expected to be released later in the day.

In the new county alert system report, the first since Dec. 22, Bladen County remained in the red with 83 other counties. There are 14 orange and four yellow. Red indicates critical community spread, orange is substantial and yellow is significant. In the previous report, 65 counties were red, including Bladen, 27 orange and eight yellow. In report two weeks before that, there were 48 red, 34 orange and 18 yellow.

All counties adjacent to Bladen are also red.

In the vaccination report, Bladen County has had 215 receive their first dose. In the state, 109,799 have gotten a first dose and 461 have had the second.

The state Department of Health and Human Services postal ZIP code report lists 666 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 448 in Bladenboro; 256 in Clarkton; 211 in East Arcadia; 113 in White Oak; 95 in Tar Heel; 54 in Council; 40 in Kelly; and 23 in Dublin.

There are 10 fatalities listed for the ZIP in Elizabethtown and White Lake. There have been three each in Bladenboro and East Arcadia, two each in Dublin, Clarkton and Council, and one each in Tar Heel, White Oak and Kelly. One is not attached to a ZIP code unique to Bladen County.

Wednesday’s totals from the state included:

• 7,076 deaths, up 80 from Tuesday’s noon report.

• 582,348 cases, up 6,952.

• 3,893 hospitalized, up 112.

• 7,191,700 tests, up 41,112.

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 39 percent of the cases, 50-64 has 22 percent, 18-24 has 12 percent, 17-and-under has 12 percent, 65-74 has 9 percent and 75-or-older has 6 percent. Ages for 17 of 26 deaths are suppressed; three are ages 75-and-older, two are ages 65-74, two are ages 50-64, and two are ages 25-49.

Statewide, the ages 25-49 category has had 40 percent of the cases, 50-64 has 20 percent, 18-24 has 14 percent, 17-and-under has 10 percent, 65-74 has 8 percent and 75-or-older has 7 percent. Of the fatalities, ages 75-and-older has made up 60 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 456 deaths and 37,565 cases. Cumberland has 142 deaths and 14,967 cases; Robeson has 139 deaths and 10,525 cases; Columbus has 87 deaths and 3,895 cases; Sampson has 66 deaths and 5,151 cases; and Pender has 22 deaths and 3,027 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 3,374 deaths and 48,706 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 334 nursing homes, 263 residential care facilities, 63 correctional institutions and four other facilities. Of those, 13 are in Cumberland, 10 in Robeson, five in Columbus, three each in Sampson and Pender, and one in Bladen.

Cumberland has one cluster.

With 97 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 66 percent of the ventilators, 13 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 21 percent of all hospital beds.

In the personal protective equipment category, all categories are at least four months.

A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 38.5 percent of the deaths (2,726) and 45.9 percent of the cases (267,427).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 591 deaths and 67,193 positive cases, Gaston County has 249 deaths and 16,868 cases, Rowan County has 177 deaths and 9,949 cases, Cabarrus County has 157 deaths and 12,217 cases, and Union County has 106 deaths and 13,755 cases — a total of 1,280 deaths and 119,982 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 354 deaths and 47,315 cases, Durham County has 141 deaths and 15,618 cases, Johnston County has 115 deaths and 12,365 cases, and Orange County has 66 deaths and 5,359 cases — a total of 676 deaths and 80,657 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 320 deaths and 26,536 cases, Forsyth County has 231 deaths and 21,913 cases, Randolph County has 133 deaths and 8,788 cases, and Davidson County has 86 deaths and 9,551 cases — a total of 770 deaths and 66,788 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 21.1 million confirmed cases and 359,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 10.3 million.

There have been more than 86.8 million cases worldwide, with more than 1.8 million deaths.

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