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Murphy – The state released data last week with concern about rising cases in rural counties, but how rural counties were compared to urban and suburban made rural counties look in worse shape than they may be.
The release says “nearly twice as many new cases have been reported from rural counties compared to urban counties.” That statement was backed up by a graph comparing the total number of cases from 79 rural counties to the total number of cases in both the six urban counties and 14 suburban counties.
However, when the number of cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks is averaged and compared between the three, the numbers are close – 335.85 average cases in rural counties, 334.83 average cases in urban counties and 345.71 average cases in suburban counties.
Just the eight westernmost rural counties in the state had an average of 222.25 cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks.
Cherokee County Health Director David Badger said he focuses his time with the realities here and hasn’t spent much time comparing counties. He also had concerns about comparing counties, as testing isn’t consistent across the state.
“It’s hard to make judgment calls on numbers,” he said. “I do think it’s dangerous to make too many comparisons.”
He knows a lot of people – even those who are experiencing symptoms – aren’t getting tested locally. That could make our county, and possibly other western counties’ numbers, look better than they actually are.
“The reality is the virus is here,” Badger said. “We have to focus on trying to stop the spread of it.”
The state’s graph did show that as a whole, weekly reported cases were increasing since September. The increasing rates in cases caused concern with the state as health care is harder to access in rural counties. Deaths of persons who tested positive for COVID-19 were also at a consistent elevated level in rural counties since August, according to the report.
Badger said Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital in Peachtree is a regional facility, and while he was aware of at least two residents hospitalized as of Monday morning, there could be beds filled with residents from surrounding counties. Across the state, 1,424 people were hospitalized as COVID-19 patients Monday morning.
Badger emphasized that there’s value in getting tested, and testing helps “stop the train of transmission.” He also wanted those who may be fearful of the testing process to know it’s a painless test that just tickles the inside of the nose.
Badger said the community as a whole needs work together to stop the spread of the virus before it gets worse. Many cases are from community spread, or no known source of contact, but local cases are increasingly coming from contact with people in other states. He said it shows people are still moving about, and goes along with the nationwide trend of people letting down their barriers a little.
“If we can all be good actors in this game, we can prevent the more draconian methods of mass closures,” Badger said.
He said we should remain vigilant in following preventative measures and getting tested, especially for the next few months.
“I really think this winter is going to be really tough,” Badger said.
As of Monday afternoon, the county had 42 active cases. Since March, the county has had 865 total cases, including 19 people from other states who tested positive while in the county, and 21 people who passed away after testing positive. Badger said more and more people who are getting tested are showing symptoms of the virus.
Using data collected from 858 cases, the state reported Monday that 10 percent of the county’s cases were those ages 0-17, 9 percent were ages 18-24, 28 percent were ages 25-49, 25 percent were ages 50-64, 16 percent were ages 65-74 and 13 percent were ages 75 or older.
Anyone who experiences symptoms should contact their primary care provider, the health department or urgent care. COVID-19 symptoms range from mild to severe and may appear 2-14 days after exposure, while flu symptoms appear 1-4 days after exposure.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, both COVID-19 and flu symptoms may include fever, cough, shortness of breath or
difficulty breathing, fatigue, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, muscle aches, headache and nausea or vomiting with diarrhea. COVID-19 symptoms may also include a new loss of taste or smell.
Anyone can have mild to severe symptoms, but older adults and those with underlying medical conditions appear to be at higher risk for severe illness. The CDC said the virus spreads very easily, and risk of spreading the virus increases the closer and longer a person’s interaction with another is.
As of Monday, North Carolina had 314,207 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 and 4,814 deaths related to the virus since the beginning of March. More than 276,000 of those cases were presumed to be recovered.
More than 4.6 million state residents have been tested for the virus. In the last week, 7-8 percent of the tests returned positive daily.
As of Nov. 7, there were only nine people who tested positive for the flu and one flu-associated death across the state this season, according to the N.C. Department of Health & Human Services.