Dare County sees a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases, per Tuesday update

Dare County released the following COVID-19 update for Tuesday, August 25, which details the county’s most recent active cases, testing efforts, and additional community information.

Dare County COVID-19 Case Update

The total COVID-19 positive case count in Dare County is 436 of which there are 21 active cases among residents of Dare County. 13 of the 21 residents are currently in Dare County. Of the 436 cases, 234 are residents and 202 are non-residents. Currently there are 2 individuals, one resident and one non-resident who are hospitalized out of the county.

Since the last Dare County DHHS Update issued Friday, August 21, 2020 there have been 21 new positive cases. Of these 21 cases, 9 are residents and 12 are non-residents. The Dare County website has already been updated to reflect all of these cases.

Of the 9 resident cases since Friday, August 21st

• 7 of the 9 cases are college students. Only 2 of those cases are connected. 4 of the 7 are symptomatic and 3 are asymptomatic. All 7 acquired the virus by direct contact with individuals who tested positive outside of Dare County.
• 1 case is symptomatic.  It is unclear how these individuals acquired the virus which indicates community spread.
• 1 case is asymptomatic and acquired the virus from a family member whose positive test result was reported on 8/18.

Of the 12 non-resident cases since Friday, August 21st:

• 1 case is symptomatic and acquired the virus by direct contact with an individual who tested positive outside of Dare County.
• 2 of the cases are not connected, both symptomatic and both acquired the virus from  family members who tested positive outside of Dare County.
• 2 of  the cases are not connected. One is symptomatic and one is asymptomatic. It is unclear how these individuals acquired the virus which indicates community spread.
• 4 of the cases are connected. All acquired the virus by direct contact with an individual who tested positive outside of Dare County.
• 3 of the cases are not connected. All are symptomatic and all acquired the virus by direct contact with individuals who tested positive outside of Dare County.

Contact tracing has been completed on 16 of the 21 of the 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. The 14 day quarantine requirement is very important to slowing the spread of the virus as the incubation period for this virus is 2 – 14 days. We are working with the other 5 individuals to identify direct contacts.

While over the past three weeks we have seen relatively low numbers of new COVID-19 cases, less than 25 each week, it only takes a day like today for things to change quickly. Today, we have 12 new cases. The majority of today’s new cases acquired the virus by direct contact. Close contact continues to be the predominant way we are seeing the virus spread. This reaffirms how important it is for each of us to do our part and remain vigilant by following the 3Ws to help reduce the spread COVID-19.

• 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

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 897 COVID-19 diagnostic tests performed in Dare County by local healthcare providers. This brings the total number of tests performed since early March to 10,238.  There were 21 positive cases between August 17 and August 23. The percent of positive tests to overall tests in Dare County since we started testing in early March decreased again this week for the 5th week in a row, to 4.07%. The percent positive to total tests for the past week alone was 2.34%. Syndromic surveillance of the emergency department and the urgent care centers showed a decrease in the number of individuals presenting with COVID-19 related symptoms.  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. On Tuesdays, a written update and a video update which includes an overview of the previous week’s COVID-19 key metrics 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.