Brunswick County sees record number of new cases as Christmas, winter holidays approach

BOLIVIA, N.C. (WWAY) -– Brunswick County Health Services says it’s identified 669 new cases of COVID-19 in the first two weeks of December, marking the second two-week period in a row to significantly break the record of new identifications in the county.

Four more residents have also passed away with deaths related to the virus in the past week, bringing the total number of fatalities among Brunswick County residents to 70. Three of the individuals were aged 65 or older and one was in the 50-64 years age range.

“We are seeing our highest numbers of active cases since the pandemic began only three weeks after Thanksgiving,” Health Services Director Cris Harrelson said. “Holiday and family gatherings, workplace settings, and faith-based gatherings continue to make up the bulk of exposures. With one week until Christmas, it is imperative that people remain home or take precautions seriously—especially face coverings or avoiding travel and gatherings if they are at a high risk for severe illness.”

The county’s Health Services division says that the best way to reduce your risk of getting COVID-19 is to avoid traveling and/or gathering with family or others you do not live with for the holidays.

They strongly encourage those who plan to travel to get tested three or four days before traveling and again three to five days after travel while quarantining at home for seven days to screen for symptoms.

According to the NCDHHS COVID-19 Dashboard statistics on testing, about 9.1% of tests conducted in Brunswick County are yielding positive results as of Dec. 18, a slight decrease from the previous week (9.7% on Dec. 11). In North Carolina, about 10.5% of tests are returning positive (10.4% on Dec. 11).

Brunswick County is currently ranked in the Substantial/Orange Tier on the North Carolina COVID-19 County Alert System, the second-highest tier possible. More than 80% of state counties are either in the Critical/Red tier or Orange/Substantial tier.

As of Dec. 18, there are 3,871 positive cases of COVID-19 among county residents (3,040 considered recovered, 751 isolating at 525 different households, 10 hospitalized, 70 deaths) and there are 22 cases among non-residents (17 considered recovered, 3 transferred monitoring to home county, 2 deaths).

To date, 70 residents and two non-residents have passed away with deaths related to the virus. The age range of these individuals (residents and non-residents) were: 65 years or older (64 cases); 50-64 years (4 case); 25-49 years (4 cases).