Testing increase shows the county doing ‘best’ vs. virus

    Murphy – As the state’s number of new COVID-19 cases continue to increase as more testing becomes available, Cherokee County was a bright spot.
    The county remained steady at 32 total cases throughout the week, although it saw a high number of tests completed at 163. More than 1,500 people have been tested since March.
    “We’re all working collectively to do our best for public health,” Health Director David Badger said. “We did have a good week last week in regards to that.”
    While he was optimistic, Badger said he continues to be cautious, as any county is one test away from a situation like the increase in cases in Macon County.
    “There’s a degree of hesitancy in this,” Badger said. “That’s the reason we want to encourage testing.”
    Identifying cases can help prevent the spread. As of Sunday, Macon County had a total 222 cases, with 203 active. More than 2,400 total people have been tested overall in Macon, which had only 90 cases, with 81 active, on June 1.
    Throughout the state, the percentage of positive tests remained steady at just under 10 percent. On Friday, the state saw a high with 1,768 of 21,822 tests returning positive. The previous high was 1,370 on June 6.
    Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday there was concern about the growing number of cases and hospitalizations across the state. There were 760 hospitalized Friday for COVID-19.
    “These numbers show the disease is spreading,” Cooper said. “The increase in cases doesn’t mean we’ve made a decision about going into Phase 2.5 or 3.”
    The state is in Phase 2 of its reopening plan, which runs through at least June 26. After listening to Cooper’s remarks Friday, Badger did not get the feeling the state would take a step back in phases.
    As of Monday, North Carolina had 45,102 positive cases of COVID-19 and 1,118 deaths related to the virus since the beginning of March. More than 29,000 of those cases are presumed to be recovered. The state does not take recoveries away from its total cases as it does deaths. More than 638,000 North Carolinians have been tested for the virus.
    Of the 32 total cases in Cherokee County since March, 29 people have recovered from the illness as of Monday and only one has died. Two local cases actually are residents of another state.
    Anyone who has concerns about a change in symptoms should contact their primary care provider, the health department or urgent care. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 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. Symptoms range from mild to severe.
    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 he’s seeing more people enjoying time out of the house, but noticed they are being respectful of social distancing. He looks at it as people needing to practice common sense, and not do unnecessary things, to protect themselves and others.