COVID-19 case count updates noted

Published 7:45 pm Thursday, July 30, 2020

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Over the past two weeks, 109 new positive cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Dare County, reports the county’s Department of Health and Human Services.

“This is not a surprise given the amount of people here and the level of social activity in the county,” states the department’s Tuesday, July 28 update. “We are closely monitoring the virus transmission and how it is spreading locally. Over the past week about half of the cases acquired the virus by direct contact with known positive cases. In the other half of the cases, the individuals were not able to identify how they acquired the virus.”

Since Friday, June 24, eight of the 13 resident cases were unclear about how the virus was acquired, indicating community spread.

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Eight non-resident cases reported since Friday, July 24 are not connected. “It is unclear how these individuals acquired the virus, which indicates community spread,” says the report.

To reduce the spread of COVID-19, state and local health departments advise individuals to wear a cloth face covering in public, wait six feet apart and wash hands frequently.

If using hand sanitizer instead of washing hands, be cautious, warns the Food and Drug Administration.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration continues to warn consumers and health care professionals not to use certain alcohol-based hand sanitizers due to the dangerous presence of methanol, or wood alcohol – a substance often used to create fuel and antifreeze that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin as well as life-threatening when ingested,” states the administration. “The agency has also taken additional action to prevent certain hand sanitizers from entering the United States by placing them on an import alert. The FDA is proactively working with manufacturers to recall products and is encouraging retailers to remove products from store shelves and online marketplaces.”

On Tuesday, July 28, at 10:30 a.m., Dare County Health and Human Services announced the total number of positive tests in the county is 331 with 54 considered active.

Currently, three residents are hospitalized with complications from COVID-1.

Dare County residents account for 184 of the positive tests; non-residents 147.

Of the 184 residents with positive tests, 56 are in home isolation; one has died and 127 have recovered or been asymptomatically cleared.

Of the 147 non-residents with positive tests, 47 have transferred isolation to a home county. One remains in isolation in Dare County and 99 have recovered or been asymptomatically cleared.

On Tuesday, July 28, North Carolina lab-confirmed cases reached 116,987, a daily increase of 1,749 cases. Some 1,244 North Carolinians are hospitalized with COVID-19. Across the state, 1,820 people have died from this disease.

As of 3 p.m. on July 28, Hyde County Health Department reports 36 total cases for Hyde. Of those, 35 have recovered and one is reported to be active positive.

For Tyrrell County, as of July 27, Martin-Tyrrell-Washington District Health Department reported 90 lab-confirmed cases, with 77 of those reported recovered. One death has been recorded in Tyrrell County.

The current case count on the North Carolina COVID-19 Dashboard for Currituck County is 69 lab-confirmed cases. For Camden County, the case count is 53 with two deaths. For Pasquotank County the case count is 311 and deaths remain steady at 17.