County Health Department director says numbers don't tell complete COVID-19 story

Aug. 11—LUMBERTON — The number of new COVID-19 cases in Robeson County dropped slightly in the past week, but county Health Department Director Bill Smith said that isn't telling the whole story.

There were 617 new cases reported in Robeson County between Aug. 3 and Monday, bringing the county's pandemic total to 19,416 cases. This is down from the 642 cases reported from July 27 to Aug. 2.

"Although the number reported appears to be down from last week, many cases did not make it into this report due to staffing limitations — that is, not all results are reported," Smith said. "Even further confounding this is the fact that a national pharmacy chain had tests going back to mid-July and just now submitted them. This means affected people testing positive at these sites never got contacted so there was no quarantine or contact tracing done. It is far too late."

Eight new virus-related deaths were reported between Aug. 3 and Monday, marking the deadliest week of the pandemic in Robeson County since early February. There have been 292 total virus-related deaths in the county since the pandemic began.

Two of the eight deaths were individuals over the age of 65, Smith said. The rest were in their 30s, 40s and 50s.

There have been 41,366 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in Robeson County, and 35,768 second doses, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services statistics as of Tuesday. Of those, 1,87o were administered in the past seven days, the most in one week since mid-March. With these additions, 32% of the county's population is now at least partially vaccinated, and 27% is fully vaccinated.

The Robeson County Health Department will be holding a vaccination clinic at Rex Rennert Elementary School in Shannon on Saturday morning and in Fairmont on Saturday afternoon.

Smith said American Indians in Robeson County have a lower vaccination rate and are getting more infections.

"Interestingly, if you look at the testing numbers you will note that as many American Indians test positive as African Americans and whites combined," Smith said. "Vaccinating facts reveal both of the latter races have vaccination rates that are 50% higher than American Indians."

Of the 617 new cases between Aug. 3 and Monday, 236 are American Indian, 138 white, 108 African American, 45 Hispanic, 23 other and 23 unlisted.

UNC Health Southeastern reported 32 virus-positive patients in isolation at its medical center as of Tuesday, down from 34 on Aug. 3. Thirty of those patients are unvaccinated. There are two employees quarantined because of possible exposure to the virus, down from four on Aug. 3.

"Several" babies, who are weeks old, are hospitalized with the virus, Smith said. The babies generally are coming from unvaccinated households.

The NCDHHS reported 31,036 new cases statewide from Aug. 4 through Tuesday, up from 19,911 between July 28 and Aug. 3. Cases have gone up more than 500% in only three weeks. The latest surge brings the state's pandemic total to 1,089,923 cases.

Eighty-nine virus-related deaths were reported in the state from Aug. 4 through Tuesday, the same number as reported for the period July 28 to Aug. 3. There have been a total of 13,768 virus-related deaths in the state over the course of the pandemic.

North Carolina surpassed five million first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this week, with 5,008,986 first doses and 4,606,088 second doses administered as of Tuesday.

There were 2,179 virus-related hospitalizations reported in North Carolina as of Tuesday, up from 1,465 on Aug. 3, including 272 admitted in the previous 24 hours before Tuesday's report. The state experienced its largest single-day jump in hospital ICU admissions since the beginning of the pandemic on Monday, increasing from 502 to 557, according to an NCDHHS press release.

Weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations among ages 20-49 in the state are at an all-time high.

"These high-levels of COVID-related admissions jeopardize the ability of our hospitals to provide needed care in our communities," said Kody H. Kinsley, chief deputy secretary for health at NCDHHS. "The vast majority of our COVID-19 hospitalizations are in unvaccinated people. This underscores the need for everyone to be vaccinated against the virus and use preventative measures to slow the spread of COVID-19."

Dr. Eric Eskioglu, Novant Health's chief medical and scientific officer, said the health system is on track to match or exceed the surge of COVID-19 cases they saw in their hospitals in January.

"Unfortunately, we have more than a 1,000% increase in COVID-19 hospital admissions today compared to just three weeks ago," Eskioglu said. "The average age of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is also 44, down from 61 in January. More than 90% of patients hospitalized with COVID are unvaccinated and they are sicker than the patients we saw during earlier surges. Entire families are presenting in our emergency rooms for COVID testing. This surge is still preventable. I urge and plead with everyone to get vaccinated now."

Because of the highly contagious Delta variant, North Carolina's other key COVID-19 metrics are also increasing, including the percent of tests that are positive — which has been more than 10% for the past week.

In addition to getting vaccinated, NCDHHS recommends everyone wear a mask in indoor public spaces if you live in area of high or substantial levels of transmission as defined by the CDC until more people are vaccinated and viral transmission decreases. In North Carolina that is now 98 of 100 counties.

To find a vaccine in your area, use the Find a Vaccine Location tool at MySpot.nc.gov or call 888-675-4567. You can also text your zip code to 438829 to find vaccine locations near you.