Dare County provides details on its 17 new COVID-19 cases since Tuesday in latest update

Dare County released the following COVID-19 update for Friday, October 30, which details the county’s most recent active cases, testing efforts, and additional community information.

Dare County COVID-19 Case Update

The number of positive COVID-19 tests in Dare County is 697, of which there are 34 active cases among residents of Dare County. Of the 697 cases, 401 are residents and 296 are non-residents.  Two residents remain hospitalized from complications associated with COVID-19.

Since the last Dare County DHHS Update issued the morning of Tuesday, October 27, 2020, there have been 17 new positive cases. Of these 17 cases, 14 are residents and 3 are non-residents. The Dare County website has already been updated to reflect all of these cases.

Of the 14 new resident cases since Tuesday, October 27th:

• 3 of the cases are symptomatic and acquired the virus by direct contact with an individual whose positive test result was reported on 10/20.
• 1 individual is symptomatic and acquired the virus by direct contact with a family member whose positive test result was reported on 10/29
• 1 individual is symptomatic and acquired the virus by direct contact with an individual whose positive test result was reported on 10/23.
• 4 of the cases are not connected. All are symptomatic. These individuals acquired the virus by direct contact with individuals who tested positive outside of Dare County.
• 5 of the cases are not connected. All are symptomatic. It is unclear how these individuals acquired the virus.

Of the 3 new non-resident cases since Tuesday, October 27th:

• 2 of the cases are not connected. Both are symptomatic and acquired the virus by direct contact with individuals who tested positive for the virus outside of Dare County.
• 1 individual is symptomatic. It is unclear how this individual acquired the virus.

Contract tracing has been completed on all of the new cases and direct contacts provided by these individuals have been identified, notified, and directed to quarantine for 14 days from the last date of exposure with the positive case.

Controlling the Spread

COVID-19 remains a very contagious virus. We cannot stress enough the importance of everyone doing their part to reduce the spread of this virus by using the proven tools available – the 3 Ws. Please be responsible, protect yourself and others by following the 3Ws:

• Wear a cloth face covering if you will be with other people.
• Wait 6 feet apart. Avoid close contact.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer

Testing

We strongly encourage anyone who is experiencing symptoms to be tested as well as anyone who may have come into contact with someone who has COVID-19. Testing is widely available in Dare County. Please visit www.darenc.com/covidtesting for details on testing locations .

If you have questions about testing or locations please visit www.darenc.com/covidtesting or call the COVID-19 call center, open Monday – Friday from 8:30 am – 5 pm at 252-475-5008.

Communications and Information Sharing

Dare County DHHS has an established schedule of communication to share information regarding COVID-19. On Tuesdays, we release a written update and a video update which includes an overview of the previous week’s COVID-19 key metrics is issued. 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.