A Dare County man who is age 65 or older has been hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a report on today’s Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard, which does not identify where the man is hospitalized.
The local resident is the first person in the higher-risk, older-age group to test positive for COVID-19 in Dare County since June 16.
During the past two weeks, 51 other people under age 65—most of them under age 50—have tested positive in Dare County for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The county’s case total is now 94, of whom 10 are age 65 or older (about 11 percent).
On Friday, the DCDHHS confirmed that Dare County is experiencing widespread community transmission of COVID-19. (See The Beacon, 6/26/20.)
Today’s dashboard also reports that since yesterday, five Dare County residents have recovered from COVID-19 or been symptomatically cleared. Of the currently active 31 cases among locals, 29 are in home isolation, and two are in the hospital, including the case reported today.
Three non-residents diagnosed with COVID-19 who were isolating in Dare County have recovered or been symptomatically cleared, the dashboard also shows. That leaves three non-residents still in isolation here, and 21 others who have transferred to isolation in their home counties.
The patient reported today is only the third to be hospitalized, according to The Beacon’s accounting. One of the previously hospitalized patients died.
The DCDHHS will give an update tomorrow on the COVID-19 cases diagnosed locally since its last report on Friday. We will be very interested to learn any details it is willing to provide about how the gentleman who is hospitalized contracted the virus.
STATEWIDE, the COVID-19 metrics continue to be higher than Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, would like to see.
According to today’s NCDHHS dashboard, 1,342 new cases were diagnosed in the latest 24-hour reporting period, with a positive-test rate of 9.3 percent. Hospitalizations declined by 47 to 843. Hospitalizations hit a single-day high on June 23 with 915.
We will report at the end of the day any additional COVID-19 cases that may be confirmed by the DCDHHS dashboard.
ANN G. SJOERDSMA, 6/29/20
The Southern Shores Beacon 