NEW HANOVER COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) – New Hanover County’s COVID-19 metrics are showing improvements Thursday after recent high positivity rates and record high death rates.
In late August, the percentage positivity rate was more than 14%. The county’s current percent positivity rate is 9.5 percent, compared to 11.8 percent reported last week and 13.9 percent the week prior.
Five percent positivity is the desired threshold to alleviate pressure on hospitals.
“We’re seeing a downward trend in some key COVID-19 metrics and that’s a sign that wearing face coverings, more people getting vaccinated, and other protective actions our community is taking are working,” said Public Health Director David Howard. “Hospitalization rates have also decreased slightly week over week, with a daily average of 76 COVID-19 patients treated locally, compared to averages of more than 100 patients per day in August. While this is good news, we must keep up these collective actions to see continued positive results. We’re moving in the right direction, all due to the great work by our residents and businesses. Reported new cases, while falling recently, are still high for our area, so please continue using face coverings indoors and if you’re not yet vaccinated, please consider doing so. The more we layer these protective actions, the faster we drive transmissions down, and the more we help others in our community avoid serious illness or death from COVID-19.”
Over the last week, 583 new COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths have been reported (for a total of 24,849 total cases of COVID-19 in New Hanover County and 264 resident deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic).
The mask mandate remains in place for indoor facilities in New Hanover County and health officials urge unvaccinated residents to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Click here for more information about public health vaccine clinics.
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