ELIZABETHTOWN — The seventh and eighth fatalities from coronavirus were logged Thursday and Friday, respectively, by the Bladen County Health Department and the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Reports from each indicate the county has had 64 deaths during the worldwide pandemic since the first fatality on May 6, 2020. The first case here was reported on the night of April 2, 2020, and there have been 4,365 positive tests recorded since.
Neither the county nor the state adjust numbers for false positives.
The month of August has been among the worst for Bladen County and many others. The eight deaths are two shy of the total for July and January; the 596 cases through Friday eclipse the 500 of December reports, and trails only the 765 in January.
The Health Department said Friday that 24 people were hospitalized. The number who have recovered is 3,942, including 414 this month — a total more than the positive tests logged for every month except three.
A school in Bladen County is expected to be named in Tuesday’s detailed listings of clusters and outbreaks. One was added to the aggregate total last week, after the most recent listing.
West Bladen Assisted Living and the Elizabethtown Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center each continued to appear on Tuesday’s state outbreak report. There are seven cases among residents at the residential care facility in Bladenboro; there are two cases among staff, and none among residents at the Elizabethtown nursing home.
DHHS defines outbreaks as two or more cases at congregate living settings, and clusters as five or more at child care facilities or schools.
Congregate living settings in North Carolina have totaled 5,730 deaths and 75,777 positive cases. Outbreaks have been identified and are active at 151 nursing homes, 62 residential care facilities, 35 correctional institutions and eight other facilities. Of those, five each are in Cumberland and Columbus, three are in Robeson, two in Bladen and one in Sampson.
Cumberland has five clusters, and Bladen and Pender each have one.
Friday’s totals, since the pandemic began, from the state included:
• 14,059 deaths.
• 1,144,894 cases.
• 3,147 hospitalized.
• 15,268,810 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.
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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in its Sunday night report, says Bladen County has 27 percent (8,825) of the total population fully vaccinated and 36 percent (11,783) partially vaccinated.
Bladen and 98 other counties remain listed as red, or showing a high level of community transmission; Hyde County on the coast is the one county that is not, and it is in fact listed as moderate. The period measured is Aug. 15 to Saturday for case rate, and Aug. 13 to Thursday for percent positivity.
The DHHS postal ZIP code report lists 1,398 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 1,214 in Bladenboro; 546 in Clarkton; 426 in East Arcadia; 252 in White Oak; 225 in Tar Heel; 117 in Council; and 84 in Kelly.
There are 25 fatalities listed for the ZIP in Elizabethtown and White Lake. There have been 20 in Bladenboro; six in East Arcadia; five in Clarkton; 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.
In adjacent counties to Bladen, there have been 1,027 deaths and 79,306 cases. Cumberland has 365 deaths and 35,643 cases; Robeson has 304 deaths and 20,040 cases; Columbus has 169 deaths and 7,971 cases; Sampson has 115 deaths and 9,109 cases; and Pender has 74 deaths and 6,543 cases.
With 95 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 61 percent of the ventilators, 14 percent of the intensive care unit beds and 21 percent of all hospital beds.
A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 37.7 percent of the deaths (5,298) and 46.2 percent of the cases (529,498).
In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has 991 deaths and 129,834 positive cases, Gaston County has 465 deaths and 30,337 cases, Rowan County has 332 deaths and 19,641 cases, Cabarrus County has 273 deaths and 25,599 cases, and Union County has 239 deaths and 28,112 cases — a total of 2,300 deaths and 233,523 cases.
In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has 760 deaths and 102,757 cases, Durham County has 242 deaths and 28,359 cases, Johnston County has 252 deaths and 25,575 cases, and Orange County has 102 deaths and 9,407 cases — a total of 1,356 deaths and 166,098 cases.
In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has 749 deaths and 53,377 cases, Forsyth County has 439 deaths and 40,807 cases, Randolph County has 244 deaths and 16,711 cases, and Davidson County has 210 deaths and 18,982 cases — a total of 1,642 deaths and 129,877 cases.
According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 37.7 million confirmed cases and 628,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 32.3 million.
There have been more than 211.9 million cases worldwide, with more than 4.4 million deaths.