Coronavirus: Two fatalities are eighth, ninth in last three-plus weeks

ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County has recorded its ninth fatality from the coronavirus in the last three-plus weeks.

The Health Department, in its Thursday update, logged two more to bring the total since the pandemic began to 52. Deaths have been in county and state reports on Monday, two last week on Thursday, and on July 1, two on June 29, and one on June 28.

In addition to six deaths this month, Bladen County has also recorded 55 cases and 76 recoveries. There are four people hospitalized among 72 active cases, the Health Department says.

Since the pandemic began, the county has had 3,565 cases and 3,441 recoveries.

“We’re beginning to see what may be some of the Fourth of July cases,” Dr. Terri Duncan, director of the Health Department, told county commissioners on Monday.

Bladen County remains listed as the state’s only “critical community spread” county by the Department of Health and Human Services. The report is broken into five tiers, assigned by colors from red to orange, yellow, light yellow and green. Those correspond, respectively, to critcal, substantial, significant, moderate, and low.

Bladen has been the only red county two reports in a row.

The Health Department is taking walk-ins for vaccination and can help with those who are homebound and need transportation. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are available at the 300 Mercer Mill office for those ages 12 and up; hours are Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Friday 9 a.m. to noon.

Questions can be directed to 910-872-6291.

There’s been no change for the county on the statewide outbreak and cluster reports. Bladenboro Primary remains listed with five cases for children; West Bladen High is logged with one case among staff and five among children. Bladenboro Primary first showed up in aggregate DHHS totals on May 13, and West Bladen on June 29.

The state defines outbreaks as two or more cases at congregate living settings, and clusters as five or more at child care facilities or schools. DHHS posts the detailed listing of outbreaks and clusters twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and updates total numbers by county each weekday.

Vaccination series are complete for 34 percent of the total population of the county, DHHS says. There are 11,107 people fully vaccinated in Bladen County, and 12,296 partially vaccinated. Statewide, there are 4,421,784 people fully vaccinated and 4,720,484 partially vaccinated. The breakdown statewide of those fully vaccinated is 83 percent for ages 65-and-up, 56 percent for age 18 and up, 53 percent for age 12 and up, and 46 percent for total population.

The DHHS postal ZIP code report lists 1,167 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 947 in Bladenboro; 439 in Clarkton; 363 in East Arcadia; 198 in White Oak; 186 in Tar Heel; 95 in Council; and 68 in Kelly.

There are 21 fatalities listed for the ZIP in Elizabethtown and White Lake. There have been 14 in Bladenboro; five each Clarkton and East Arcadia; three in Council; two in White Oak; and one each in Tar Heel and Kelly. The Dublin ZIP code disappeared from the state report on Jan. 29.

Thursday’s totals from the state included:

• 13,519 deaths.

• 1,021,853 cases.

• 492 hospitalized.

• 14,046,286 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 28 of 50 deaths are suppressed; six are ages 75-and-older, seven are ages 65-74, six are ages 50-64, and three 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 58 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 935 deaths and 68,377 cases. Cumberland has 325 deaths and 30,903 cases; Robeson has 273 deaths and 17,143 cases; Columbus has 153 deaths and 6,507 cases; Sampson has 115 deaths and 8,216 cases; and Pender has 69 deaths and 5,608 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 5,684 deaths and 73,973 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 39 nursing homes, 20 residential care facilities, 22 correctional institutions and five other facilities. Of those, two are in Robeson and one in Cumberland.

Bladen and Cumberland each have two clusters.

With 96 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 74 percent of the ventilators, 21 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 23 percent of all hospital beds.

A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 37.9 percent of the deaths (5,133) and 46.4 percent of the cases (474,145).

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 982 deaths and 115,621 positive cases, Gaston County has 444 deaths and 27,318 cases, Rowan County has 313 deaths and 17,400 cases, Cabarrus County has 264 deaths and 22,608 cases, and Union County has 226 deaths and 25,165 cases — a total of 2,229 deaths and 208,112 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 740 deaths and 90,167 cases, Durham County has 237 deaths and 25,991 cases, Johnston County has 239 deaths and 22,594 cases, and Orange County has 101 deaths and 8,657 cases — a total of 1,317 deaths and 147,409 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 726 deaths and 48,944 cases, Forsyth County has 427 deaths and 37,168 cases, Randolph County has 233 deaths and 15,425 cases, and Davidson County has 201 deaths and 17,087 cases — a total of 1,587 deaths and 118,624 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 33.9 million confirmed cases and 608,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 30.9 million.

There have been more than 188.6 million cases worldwide, with more than 4 million deaths.