Dare County’s COVID-19 case count tops 500, with 20 new cases since Friday, per Tuesday’s update

Dare County released the following COVID-19 update for Tuesday, September 15, 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 502, of which there are 11 active cases among residents of Dare County. Of the 502 cases, 267 are residents and 235  are non-residents. There are currently 2 individuals, one resident and one non-resident, who are hospitalized due to COVID-19 complications.

Since the last Dare County DHHS Update issued Friday, September 11, 2020, there have been 20 new positive cases. Of these 20 cases, 8 are residents and 12 are non-residents. The Dare County website has already been updated to reflect all of these cases.

Of the 8 resident cases since Friday, September 11th:

• 2 of the cases are family members, both symptomatic. They acquired the virus from another family member whose positive test was reported on 9/11
• 2 of the cases are close contacts, both symptomatic. They acquired the virus by direct contact with individuals whose positive tests were reported on 9/5
• 3 of the cases are connected. All are symptomatic. One individual acquired the virus by direct contact with an individual who tested positive outside of Dare County and then spread the virus to the other 2 individuals.
• 1 individual is symptomatic and acquired the virus by direct contact with an individual who tested positive outside of Dare County

Of the 12 non-resident cases since Friday, September 11th:

• 1 individual is symptomatic and acquired the virus from a family member whose positive test was reported on 9/10
• 6 of the cases are not connected. All are symptomatic and acquired the virus by direct contact with individuals who tested positive outside of Dare County.
• 4 of the cases are not connected. 2 are symptomatic and 2 are asymptomatic. It is unclear how these individuals acquired the virus.
• 1 individual is asymptomatic and acquired the virus by direct contact with an individual who tested positive outside of Dare County.

Contact tracing has been completed on 17 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 3 individuals to identify their direct contacts.

We continue to see the predominant way COVID-19 is spreading in our community is through direct contact. A very powerful public health tool to help reduce the spread of infectious diseases is quarantining. We use quarantining to separate individuals who have been exposed to a person who has