Two more Dare County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 and are in home isolation, according to the final report today on the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard.
Their cases bring the total new cases reported today to four and the total overall to 62, split evenly between residents and non-residents and males and females.
Yesterday, DCDHHS reported nine more people had tested positive for COVID-19—an alarming single-day record total that is more than double the number of cases of the previous single-day high. Seven of the nine were non-residents, as were 14 of the last 16 positive cases reported.
The DCDHHS explained the rise in COVID-19 diagnoses among non-residents as the result of vacationers seeking tests at urgent care centers after either experiencing viral symptoms or hearing from people outside of the area that they had direct contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. (See an earlier post by The Beacon today.)
The latest two positive cases are a man and a woman, one of whom is between the ages of 25 and 49, and the other of whom is between the ages of 50 and 64.
UPDATE ON WEDNESDAY: Governor Cooper is expected to announce today during a 3 p.m. briefing how North Carolina’s reopening will progress when Phase Two expires at 5 p.m. Friday. The statewide COVID-19 “metrics” that he and public-health officials are tracking do not support moving into Phase Three, but the Governor will likely find it difficult to delay the reopening by extending Phase Two. He will also address imposing a statewide face covering mandate.
Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/23/20
The Southern Shores Beacon 