A 24th person has tested positive for COVID-19 in Dare County, according to the Dare Co. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard.
This individual is a non-resident male between the ages of 50 and 64 who is in isolation in Dare County, according to today’s dashboard data. No further details were provided about either the person’s condition or how he contracted the coronavirus.
DCDHHS Director Dr. Sheila Davies explained in a videotaped message posted yesterday to the department’s COVID-19 website that the 23rd person who tested positive in the county was also a non-resident. (Dr. Davies posts a videotaped update every Tuesday.)
This person, Dr. Davies said, acquired the coronavirus from direct contact with an infected family member and is asymptomatic. He/she is now isolating in his/her home county, not in Dare. The person’s test result was not available until after he/she left Dare County.
Dr. Davies also updated the test results from last week’s drive-thru testing event in Kill Devil Hills. She said that of the 179 tests performed—a correction from the 178 cited in a previous DCDHHS bulletin—177 had tested negative, and two of the tests were invalid.
Although 200 people registered for the drive-thru testing at First Flight High School, 21 were “no-shows,” according to Dr. Davies.
A second drive-thru testing event was scheduled to be held in Nags Head yesterday, with tests available for 500 people who reside in either Dare or Hyde counties. These test results should be available within 72 hours. Dr. Davies did not announce a third drive-thru testing date.
It is now possible to get tested for COVID-19, even if you do not have symptoms. The urgent care centers in Kitty Hawk and Nags Head are testing people, provided they call ahead to make an appointment, Dr. Davies advised.
The DCDHHS Director said that 1,021 test results have been reported to DCDHHS through May 31.
Dr. Davies also elaborated in her message about the two Dare County residents who have had active cases of COVID-19 for more than three weeks now.
One of them, she said, is over age 65 and “considered high-risk.” The other is middle-aged and does not have any “underlying medical conditions,” Dr. Davies said. The two people are “not connected,” she noted.
One of these patients remains in isolation in a hospital, and the other is isolating at home.
To recap, of the 24 people who have tested positive in Dare County:
*18 are Dare County residents; six are non-residents.
*10 are men; 14 are women.
*One is between the ages of 18-24; eight are between 25 and 49; eight are between 50 and 64; and seven are 65 years old or older. (This means that 62.5 percent are 50 or older, and about 29 percent are 65 or older.)
*One Dare County resident has died; 15 have recovered; and two remain active, as described above.
*Four non-resident patients have recovered; one is in isolation in his/her home county; and one is in isolation in Dare County.
You may easily access the DCDHHS’s website about COVID-19 by linking to darenc.com/covid19.
The longer URL is https://www.darenc.com/departments/health-human-services/coronavirus.
The Beacon will update COVID-19 data posted on the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services dashboard, which we are monitoring daily, at a later date.
Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/3/20
The Southern Shores Beacon 