Past Week’s COVID-19 Data Shows “Hopeful Trends,” per Dare County’s Tuesday Update

Dare County released the following update for Tuesday, February 2, which provides details on recent Coronavirus cases, current and future vaccine allotments, and more COVID-19 information.

Dare County COVID-19 Case Update

Dare County COVID-19 data from this past week shows some hopeful trends. Specifically, the total number of new positive cases was the lowest it has been since the week before Christmas. Additionally, the percent of positive tests to total tests for this past week decreased from 19% to 15%. While this is good news, it is still concerning to have such a high percent positivity rate, so it remains critically important to continue to practice the 3Ws: Wear a face covering, wait 6 ft apart and wash your hands frequently. Studies from the CDC indicate that your risk of infection if exposed to someone with COVID 19 is decreased by:

• 85% with social distancing
• 77% by always wearing an appropriate mask which covers the mouth and nose
• 77% by keeping duration of contact less than 15 minutes
• 67% by frequent handwashing

Since our last report on 1/25, there are 153 new COVID-19 cases. Of these 153 new cases:

• 135 (88%) are symptomatic
• 130 (85%) acquired the virus by direct contact with an individual or individuals who were positive for COVID-19.

The total COVID-19 positive case count in Dare County is 2,592, of which there are 177 active cases among residents of Dare County. Currently, 9 residents are hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19.

COVID-19 Vaccine

As shared last week, Dare County’s first dose vaccine allocation from the state has been dramatically reduced. We were informed last week that our guaranteed weekly allocation from the state for the next 3 weeks is 300 doses per week. We were able to secure through a special event request an additional 500 doses for this week alone but for the week of February 8 and February 15 we will only be receiving 300 doses for each of those weeks.

Looking ahead, we are supposed to receive notification by this Friday of what our weekly allotment will be for the next 3 weeks. As soon as we have that information we will be able resume scheduling appointments for upcoming clinics from our waiting list. There are approximately 2,400 individuals aged 65 and older who are on our waiting list. Please be patient, you will each receive a call and get an appointment time as soon as we know we have vaccines available. Once we complete the scheduling of those 65 and over from the waiting list we will be in a position to move to Phase 3 of the state’s prioritization phases.

The vaccine allotment issue is only related to first doses this week. For the over 4,500 individuals who have already received their first dose, your second dose appointment still stands. We are scheduled to receive our second dose shipments from the state 3 – 4 weeks after we received the first dose. We received our first shipment of second doses last week and are scheduled to receive our second shipment today. We have not been informed that there are any issues with second dose allotments.

Information on COVID-19 vaccinations in Dare County can be found at www.darenc.com/covidvaccine.  General information on the COVID-19 vaccines can be found on the state’s website www.covid19.ncdhhs.gov/vaccines.

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 826 COVID-19 diagnostic tests performed in Dare County. This brings the total number of tests performed since early March to 31,495.  There were 125 positive cases between January 25 and January 31. The percent of positive tests to overall tests in Dare County since we started testing in early March increased to 8.1%. The percent of positive tests to total tests for the past week decreased to 15.1%. Syndromic surveillance of  the emergency department and urgent care centers showed a decrease in individuals presenting with COVID like 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. Every Tuesday, a written update and a video update which includes an overview of 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 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.

Contact Us

We encourage you to stay informed by visiting www.darenc.com/covid19 or by visiting the CDC or NC DHHS websites. If you have specific needs or questions you may also call the Dare County COVID-19 call center open Monday-Friday from 8:30 to 5:00 at 252-475-5008.

This release is available in:

English | Spanish