Murphy – The Cherokee County Health Department reported only 12 new positive test results for COVID-19 from Oct. 26 through Monday, although a local resident in their late 50s died Tuesday morning from the coronavirus.
Only three of those results did not have contact with a previously reported case, 10 of those testing positive developed symptoms, none have been hospitalized and they have all been isolated.
To help keep those numbers down, county Health Director David Badger reminds local residents that boosters for all three vaccines have been approved, and the U.S. Federal Drug Administration has approved the Pfizer vaccine for ages 5-11.
“We anticipate (U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention) approval next week, the final hurdle, with administration beginning immediately at the local level,” Badger said. “Looking at another positive, we are continuing to see a significant decline in transmission, which puts us all in a safer and happier place.”
Since the pandemic started through Monday, the health department has conducted 21,112 tests, 16,443 which were negative, Of the 4,654 positive tests, 4,549 have been released, 96 are deceased and 10 are active.
The health department offers vaccines at no charge at the office in Murphy. For details, call 837-7486.
Gov. Roy Cooper and N.C. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen provided an update on the state’s COVID-19 key trends on Oct. 27.
“We are grateful to see this latest surge in COVID-19 taper off,” Cooper said. “And as we try to drive down our numbers, we know what works. Vaccines. The more people who get their shots, the less COVID we’ll have.”
To date, North Carolina has administered more than 11.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 66 percent of the adult population fully vaccinated. About 71 percent of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, including 92 percent of North Carolinians ages 65 and over.