4 new cases
of virus here
Murphy – Although Cherokee County had four more cases of COVID-19 announced last week, things are trending better for the county and reopening local businesses.
“We’re moving in that direction,” Health Director David Badger said.
However, he said it is challenging looking at numbers in small data sets.
As of Monday, the county had a total of 27 COVID-19 tests return positive since March 18. Of those, 20 have recovered and one person has died. The county is averaging about four new cases each week, even as the availability of testing increases.
Badger said while 27 is a lot of people in some respects, it’s only a fraction of 1 percent of the county’s population.
“These things we can find pride and joy in,” he said. “We all did our part to keep that number as low as possible.”
Badger thinks the actions local residents have taken have kept the number low, and people need to continue being mindful. Once the state eases restrictions, he said locals need to be aware of the signs and symptoms of the virus.
“We fortunately have the tools, it’s more of a matter of applying them,” he said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, symptoms range from mild to severe and may appear two to 14 days after exposure. Symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and loss of taste or smell.
Local residents are reminded to continue practicing measures to prevent spreading the virus, like using good hygiene habits, staying home if sick and social distancing. In public places where social distancing is difficult, the CDC recommends wearing a cloth face covering. Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of another person for 10 minutes or more.
Badger said we need to continue surveying the coronavirus in the community through testing. He added that knowing and isolating those who are sick not only help protect the most vulnerable in our community, but can allow our businesses to stay open. He added that the more we learn about this new coronavirus through testing, the more likely we’ll be able to exist with this virus, like we have with others.
Nearly 800 people in the county and more than 146,000 people in the state have been tested since March.
The Cherokee County Health Department announced early Thursday afternoon that a resident tested positive after their primary care physician tested them due to showing signs of illness. The individual is isolated in their home, and the health department has identified and notified close contacts. The individual has had no known contact with anyone infected with the virus.
Three additional people were announced as testing positive Saturday evening. They were tested because they were determined to be close contacts with another confirmed case. All three are isolated in their homes.
As of Monday, North Carolina had 11,848 positive cases of COVID-19 and 430 deaths since the beginning of March. The state is not reporting recoveries and does not take recoveries away from its total number of cases, as it does with deaths.