Dare County reports 40 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, per Tuesday update

Dare County released the following update for Tuesday, July 13, which provides details on recent Coronavirus cases, vaccine data, and more COVID-19 information.

Dare County COVID-19 Case Update

The total number of new positive cases reported in Dare County over the past week was 40.

Of these 40 new cases:

• 34 (86%) are symptomatic
• 36 (90%) acquired the virus by direct contact with unvaccinated individuals who were positive for COVID-19.
• 8 breakthrough cases were reported this past week (5 had J&J vaccine; 2 had Moderna, and 1 had Pfizer).

Currently, there are 29 active COVID-19 cases among residents of Dare County. There have been a total of 19 breakthrough COVID-19 cases reported in Dare County.

Delta Variant

For the past two weeks there has been a rise in new positive cases and the percent positivity rate. Dare County went from a 2% positivity rate for the week of June 21st to a 7% positivity rate for the week of July 5th to 11.3% for this past week. At the state level, the Delta variant has rapidly replaced the other variants as the predominant variant. Positive COVID test samples are being sequenced to assess for variants, however this sequencing takes approximately three weeks so, we have not received Dare County specific data from the state.

However, based on the prevalence of the Delta variant in the state it is reasonable to expect the Delta variant is present in Dare County. For the week of 6/7, a little over 10% of the sequenced COVID-19 viruses from NC were identified as the Delta variant. For the week of 6/14, that percentage rose to 40%. The Delta variant is 66% more transmissible and early indication is that it causes more illness and potentially more hospitalizations. Evidence shows that the currently available COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing serious illness associated with the Delta variant. The attack rate of the virus is much lower in the vaccinated population than in the unvaccinated population.

Protect Yourself and Your Family

Epidemiological data indicates the state is at the beginning of another surge of COVID-19 infections. The Delta variant is a significantly more contagious variant and an increase in infections is inevitable. Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself against COVID-19. People who are vaccinated are far less likely to get infected with COVID-19 than those who are not vaccinated. In North Carolina, 99.2% of newly diagnosed cases are in unvaccinated individuals. In addition to getting vaccinated, other ways you can protect yourself and your family include limiting prolonged direct contact with unvaccinated individuals who do not live in your household, wearing a mask when in large crowds, especially indoors, and washing your hands frequently with soap and water or using hand sanitizer.

COVID-19 Vaccine

All individuals 12 years of age and over are encouraged to get the COVID-19 vaccination. COVID-19 vaccinations are readily available at numerous locations throughout the county including the health department and many area pharmacies like: Walgreens, CVS, Sunshine Family Pharmacy, Island Pharmacy, Bear Drugs, and Beach Pharmacy.

Since late December 2020, a total of 23,136 (63%) of eligible Dare County residents have received an initial dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 22,143 (60%) are fully vaccinated.

In addition to preventing serious illness and death, getting your COVID-19 vaccine prevents you from being quarantined if you are exposed to a person who tests positive for COVID-19, as long as you remain symptom free.

Key Metrics

Each week we review the 4 key metrics associated with disease investigation and surveillance. The metrics are:

• Number of Tests
• Confirmed Cases
• Positive Tests as a Percent of Total Tests
• COVID Like Illness Surveillance

This past week there were 355 COVID-19 diagnostic tests reported in Dare County. This brings the total number of tests performed since early March of last year to 41,781.  There were 40 positive cases between July 5 and July 11. The percentage of positive tests to overall tests in Dare County since we started testing in March 2020 increased to 8.06%. The percent of positive tests to total tests for the past week also increased to 11.3%. Syndromic surveillance of individuals presenting with COVID like symptoms to the emergency department and urgent care centers showed an increase in activity. These graphs can be found on the Dare County website at www.darenc.com/covid19.

Communications and Information Sharing

Dare County DHHS has an established schedule of communication to share information regarding COVID-19. Every Tuesday, a written update which includes the previous week’s COVID-19 key metrics is issued. Additional updates will be released as needed. 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 and on our website and shared on the DHHS facebook page each Tuesday. 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.