ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County remained in the second-worst tier for the state coronavirus alert system on Thursday morning.
The county is colored orange, meaning substantial impact. The worst category is red, or critical impact. Below orange is yellow, for significant impact; light yellow, for moderate impact; and green, for low impact.
No counties are red, meaning Bladen is among the state’s worst situations using this state Department of Health and Human Services system as a measure. There are nine orange counties, 41 yellow, 45 light yellow and five green. Compared to May 13, 55 counties stayed the same, four counties got worse, and 41 counties improved.
This measure uses case rate, percentage of tests that are positive, and hospital impact within the county to achieve a scoring system. The percentage of tests does not include the full population getting tested, only those who choose to get a test; the Wednesday update from DHHS said two people in Bladen County are hospitalized, and that number has fluctuated little over more than the last month.
The county Health Department counts 49 cases as active. Since the pandemic began, the county has had 42 deaths, 3,325 cases and 3,234 recoveries. In May, the county has recorded one death, 95 cases and 102 recoveries.
Vaccination series are complete for 30.5 percent of the total population of the county and 38.3 percent of the total population of the state, DHHS says. There are 9,964 people fully vaccinated in Bladen County, and 11,151 partially vaccinated. Statewide, there are 4,013,828 people fully vaccinated and 4,463,739 partially vaccinated.
In Tuesday’s statewide report for clusters and outbreaks, there was no change in Bladen County. Bladenboro Primary School remains on the cluster list with no changes — five cases involving children, no staff cases, and no deaths. The school year ends Friday.
DHHS defines outbreaks as two or more cases at congregate living settings, and clusters as five or more at child care facilities or schools.
The DHHS postal ZIP code report lists 1,117 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 822 in Bladenboro; 431 in Clarkton; 360 in East Arcadia; 180 in White Oak; 165 in Tar Heel; 89 in Council; and 66 in Kelly.
There are 20 fatalities listed for the ZIP in Elizabethtown and White Lake. There have been eight in Bladenboro; five each Clarkton and East Arcadia; four in Clarkton; two each in Council and White Oak; and one each in Tar Heel and Kelly. The Dublin ZIP code disappeared from the state report on Jan. 29.
Wednesday’s totals from the state included:
• 13,031 deaths.
• 999,567 cases.
• 695 hospitalized.
• 13,140,869 tests.
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 37 percent of the cases, 50-64 has 22 percent, 18-24 has 12 percent, 17-and-under has 14 percent, 65-74 has 11 percent and 75-or-older has 5 percent. Ages for 23 of 42 deaths are suppressed; six are ages 75-and-older, six are ages 65-74, five are ages 50-64, and two are ages 25-49.
Statewide, the ages 25-49 category has had 39 percent of the cases, 50-64 has 20 percent, 18-24 has 14 percent, 17-and-under has 12 percent, 65-74 has 8 percent and 75-or-older has 6 percent. Of the fatalities, ages 75-and-older has made up 59 percent, 65-74 has 24 percent, 50-64 has 14 percent and 25-49 has 4 percent.
In adjacent counties to Bladen, there have been 881 deaths and 65,951 cases. Cumberland has 308 deaths and 29,483 cases; Robeson has 240 deaths and 16,613 cases; Columbus has 151 deaths and 6,367 cases; Sampson has 113 deaths and 7,986 cases; and Pender has 69 deaths and 5,502 cases.
Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 5,597 deaths and 72,958 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 101 nursing homes, 61 residential care facilities, 33 correctional institutions and four other facilities. Of those, nine are in Cumberland, four in Pender, three in Robeson, and one in Sampson.
Pender has two clusters, and Bladen and Cumberland have one each.
With 95 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 72 percent of the ventilators, 20 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 24 percent of all hospital beds.
In the personal protective equipment category, medical KN95 respirators have 87 days supply. All other categories are at least three months.
A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 38.2 percent of the deaths (4,976) and 46.5 percent of the cases (464,668).
In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 969 deaths and 113,083 positive cases, Gaston County has 435 deaths and 26,856 cases, Rowan County has 306 deaths and 17,009 cases, Cabarrus County has 260 deaths and 22,092 cases, and Union County has 222 deaths and 24,637 cases — a total of 2,192 deaths and 203,677 cases.
In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 724 deaths and 88,575 cases, Durham County has 224 deaths and 25,490 cases, Johnston County has 224 deaths and 21,930 cases, and Orange County has 101 deaths and 8,562 cases — a total of 1,273 deaths and 144,557 cases.
In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 709 deaths and 48,103 cases, Forsyth County has 380 deaths and 36,372 cases, Randolph County has 230 deaths and 15,151 cases, and Davidson County has 192 deaths and 16,808 cases — a total of 1,511 deaths and 116,434 cases.
According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 33.1 million confirmed cases and 591,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 27.3 million.
There have been more than 168.5 million cases worldwide, with more than 3.5 million deaths.
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