Dare County experiencing community-wide spread of COVID-19, per Friday update

Dare County is experiencing community-wide spread of the COVID-19 virus, per a Friday afternoon update from the Dare County Department of Health and Human Services.

“From the northern end of the county to the southern end of the county, including the mainland of Dare County, over the past week we have seen a growing number of individuals who have tested positive but do not know where they acquired the virus,” stated the update.

“A growing number of positive cases are also among our teens and young adults. Fortunately, these individuals have experienced only mild to moderate symptoms. The greater concern in seeing the rise in cases in this age group is the likelihood of spreading it to others, including those who are at risk of developing severe complications from the virus.”

Additional updates from the county for Friday, June 26, are below. 

Dare County COVID-19 Case Update

The number of positive COVID-19 tests in Dare County is 77, 27 of which are considered active and in home isolation. Of the 77 cases, 41 are residents and 36 are non-residents.

Since the last Dare County DHHS Update issued, Tuesday, June 23, 2020 there have been 17 new positive cases. Of these 17 cases, 12 are residents and 5 are non-residents. The Dare County website has already been updated to reflect all of these cases.

Of the 12 resident cases:

• 3 are close acquaintances, two are mildly symptomatic and one is asymptomatic. All 3 acquired the virus through direct contact associated with an individual whose positive result was reported on 6/22
• None of the remaining 9 resident cases are connected
• 7 are symptomatic and acquired the virus through community spread
• 1 is asymptomatic and acquired the virus by direct contact
• 1 is asymptomatic and acquired the virus by community spread

Of the 5 non-resident cases:

• None of the cases are connected to one another
• 2 are asymptomatic and most likely acquired the virus through community spread outside of Dare County
• 1 is symptomatic and acquired the virus through travel
• 1 is symptomatic and acquired the virus through community spread
• 1 is symptomatic and acquired the virus through direct contact with an individual whose positive test result was reported on 6/18

Contract tracing has been completed and direct contacts of these 17 cases have been identified, notified, and directed to quarantine for 14 days from the last date of exposure with the positive case. Calls are made to check on compliance with the quarantine directive and legal action can be taken for individuals violating quarantine and isolation orders.

Mask Requirements

For consistency and to eliminate confusion amongst the public, Dare County’s Facemask Requirement is now aligned with the Governor’s Executive Order 147.

Testing

A total of 438 appointments have been made for the COVID-19 Antibody & Diagnostic Testing Event on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 in Kill Devil Hills. Currently there are no appointments available for antibody testing. There are still diagnostic drive thru testing appointments available. To schedule an appointment, please call 252.475.5008. The call center is open Monday – Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. For more information on testing, please visit www.darenc.com/covidtesting.

Communications and Information Sharing

Dare County DHHS has an established schedule of communication to share information regarding COVID-19. On Tuesdays, a written update and a video update which includes an overview of the previous week’s COVID-19 key metrics is issued, on Thursdays a Spanish Video Update is issued, and on Fridays a written update is issued. All released videos and written updates can be found on our website, DHHS facebook page, Dare County Twitter page, and Dare Emergency Management Twitter page. If you would like to receive these updates directly to your email, please sign up to receive our enotifications.

New positive cases are updated on the dashboard on our website and shared on the DHHS facebook page when we receive them. To find the most up-to-date information on COVID-19 cases in Dare County visit www.darenc.com/covid19. State COVID-19 data is available at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard.