Coronavirus: County records four fatalities in a week; DHHS abandons its map for that of CDC

ELIZABETHTOWN — Four deaths linked to coronvirus were reported in Bladen County in the first week of August.

Friday’s daily update from its Health Department said nine people were hospitalized out of 251 cases considered active. That evening, an automated phone call advised residents Emergency Medical Services may not transport patients to the hospital of their choice, due to capacities being reached.

Two fatalities were reported last week in the Tuesday report, another on Thursday and one on Friday. That makes 60 total since the pandemic begin.

The county has logged 3,920 cases since announcing the first on April 2, 2020. There have been 3,609 recoveries. State Department of Health and Human Services statistics, and those of the county, do not update to reflect false positive tests.

DHHS retired its County Alert System last week, a once every two weeks snapshot of the state’s 100 counties that mixed trends for ase rate, percent of tests positive and hospital impact. The state agency now relies on the maps and assessments of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which offers a map for a seven-day analysis labeling each county or parrish in the country as having levels of high community transmission of COVID-19, substantial, moderate or low.

Two North Carolina counties were moderate for the period ending Saturday, nine were substantial and 89 were high, including Bladen and every county it touches, plus every county its adjacent neighbors touch.

The switch is intriguing, in that, numbers for vaccinations do not match. DHHS reports Bladen County with 11,643 fully vaccinated individuals, while the CDC has the number at 8,541. DHHS says its number means 36 percent of the total county population is vaccinated; CDC pegs it at 26.1 percent.

The county 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.

The DHHS postal ZIP code report lists 1,268 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 1,070 in Bladenboro; 488 in Clarkton; 376 in East Arcadia; 220 in White Oak; 209 in Tar Heel; 107 in Council; and 72 in Kelly.

There are 24 fatalities listed for the ZIP in Elizabethtown and White Lake. There have been 18 in Bladenboro; five each in Clarkton and East Arcadia; four 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.

Friday’s totals from the state included:

• 13,736 deaths.

• 1,071,137 cases.

• 1,715 hospitalized.

• 14,618,253 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 adjacent counties to Bladen, there have been 971 deaths and 73,492 cases. Cumberland has 339 deaths and 33,232 cases; Robeson has 286 deaths and 18,511 cases; Columbus has 161 deaths and 7,185 cases; Sampson has 115 deaths and 8,573 cases; and Pender has 70 deaths and 5,991 cases.

Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 5,709 deaths and 74,722 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 76 nursing homes, 35 residential care facilities, 23 correctional institutions and eight other facilities. Of those, five are in Cumberland, four in Columbus, and three in Robeson.

Cumberland has four clusters and Pender one.

With 96 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 68 percent of the ventilators, 17 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 22 percent of all hospital beds.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 35.7 million confirmed cases and 616,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 31.9 million.

There have been more than 202.6 million cases worldwide, with more than 4.2 million deaths.