Brunswick County reports large increase in COVID-19 recoveries

BOLIVIA, NC (WWAY) — Brunswick County recently surpassed the 1,000 positive cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) identified through testing.

On a positive note, the county says recoveries among positive cases have increased substantially in the past five days and now total 815—about 76 percent of the overall case count.

However, Brunswick County Health Services says they remains cautious about the current outlook, as cases have still increased by about 19 percent since Friday, July 17.  The department is actively responding to six ongoing outbreaks of COVID-19 at congregate living facilities, as well.

“We are still not out of the woods yet, and will likely not be for some time,” Health Services Director Cris Harrelson said. “We still need people to remain careful and take responsible steps like avoiding get-togethers with people they don’t live with, increasing their use of face coverings in public places and following the other key parts of the three Ws, too—wait six feet apart and wash your hands regularly.”

The county says places where increased use of face coverings are especially needed are in places like restaurants, retail and grocery shops, and construction sites—places where the workers have more interaction with the public or fellow workers than usual.

“The people who work in the service industry have and continue to play a significant role in helping keep our society going through this pandemic,” Harrelson said. “The best way we can protect them and show our appreciation is by wearing a face covering when we visit and interact with them at their places of work. It also prevents the risk of transmission to other people in the building or on site.”

Here are key points about Brunswick County’s current case counts:

• Brunswick County has seen a more than 877% increase in resident cases since early June, with about a 19 percent increase in cases in the past 10 days (July 17-27)
• According to the NCDHHS COVID-19 Dashboard statistics on testing, about 7% of all tests in Brunswick County are positive
• There are 75 positive cases for every 10,000 people in Brunswick County
• People aged 25 to 49 years old still account for 35% of all positive cases to date; cases in this age range have increased by 20% in the past 10 days
• About 21% of all cases involve Hispanic/Latinx residents, while only about 4.9% of the overall county population identifies with this ethnic group
• There are currently 13 positive cases hospitalized
• Health Services is responding to six ongoing outbreaks at congregate living facilities in the county currently
• Eight deaths have been reported in July so far, bringing the total to 13 resident and two non-resident deaths; some of these deaths are connected to an outbreak at a congregate living facility

As of Monday, there are 1,075 positive cases of COVID-19 among county residents (815 considered recovered, 234 isolating at 196 different homes, 13 hospitalized, 13 deaths) and 16 cases involving non-residents (2 isolating, 9 considered recovered, 3 transferred monitoring to home county, 2 deaths).