Coronavirus: Bladen County improves level on CDC chart; school added, two nursing homes removed from DHHS lists

Oct. 28—ELIZABETHTOWN — The map from the CDC is beginning to break from all red for North Carolina's 100 counties, and Bladen is among them.

Red indicates the highest level of transmission warning for COVID-19. Bladen County, on Thursday morning, was back into the next tier of substantial. The next levels to trend in a positive manner would be moderate, then low.

The county recorded its first death in more than two weeks on Wednesday, raising to 95 the total since the pandemic began. The county's first case was announced on the night of April 2, 2020, and its first fatality just over a month later on May 6.

Bladenboro Middle was added to the state's cluster list. The state Department of Health and Human Services' reports on outbreaks and clusters lists only four schools from Bladen County; Elizabethtown Primary, Elizabethtown Middle and Tar Heel Middle are the others.

Bladen East Health and Rehab, along with Elizabethtown Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center, had each been on the outbreak report. They are no longer listed.

Numbers are cumulative from varying points and do not indicate active. The state defines outbreaks as two or more cases at congregate living settings, and clusters as five or more at child care facilities or schools.

On the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, Bladen County has 44.2 percent (14,448) of the total population fully vaccinated and 52.2 percent (17,080) partially vaccinated.

Bladen is one of 16 counties in substantial; one was moderate. The other 83 are red, or showing a high level of community transmission. The period measured is Oct. 20 to Tuesday for case rate, and Oct. 14 to Wednesday for percent positivity.

Vaccinations remain strongly encouraged. They are available, as are booster shots for those eliligible, at the county Health Department and at Bladen County Hospital. Testing is also available.

Bladen County Schools is offering COVID-19 testing as well; students must register. Go to the school district's website, bladen.k12.nc.us, for the link.

In October, Bladen County has recorded three fatalities, 178 positive tests, and 236 recoveries. There were no hospitalizations at the time of Wednesday's report. Since the pandemic began, those numbers, respectively, are 95, 5,463, and 5,321.

DHHS says there have been 17,935 fatalities; 1,406 are hospitalized; and 1,472,655 positive tests have been recorded since the start of the pandemic. The state, nor the county, adjust numbers for false positive tests.

This story authored by Alan Wooten of the Bladen Journal. Contact him at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com.

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