Cases continue to decline in Cherokee County, even as more COVID-19 deaths have been announced.
As of Monday, the county sits at 93 COVID-19 deaths, with the most recent ones being announced on Oct. 6 and Thursday. However, even as the deaths were announced, the overall number of positive test results in Cherokee County has continued to drop, following state and national trends.
“We're definitely seeing fewer infections,” Cherokee County Health Director David Badger said. “The positivity rate is certainly coming down, which is a good thing, which is kind of one of the real benchmarks we consider when looking at what the risk is to the community as a whole.”
Badger explained the combination of consistent deaths and a decline in the positivity rate, saying the deaths could be seen as a lagging indicator of the coronavirus.
"It's not to be unexpected," he said. “When you see infections going up in a new wave, you don't automatically see deaths. They start showing up on average about four weeks later.”
Badger said the deaths were an indicator of what the county has been through, as opposed to the current COVID-19 situation. Cases remained relatively low through last week, with 65 people testing positive from Oct. 5 through Monday.
Of those cases, nine had contact with previously reported cases. Only two have not developed symptoms, but none have been hospitalized and all have been isolated.
Since the pandemic started through Monday, the health department has conducted 20,737 tests, 16,111 which were negative, Of the 4,584 positive tests, 4,416 have been released, 93 are deceased and 75 are active.
Vaccines for all?
On the vaccine front, Badger said the county was seeing a slow but steady rise in the shot. As of Friday, 41 percent of local residents had been fully vaccinated, with 46 percent having taken at least one dose.
He emphasized that the number could climb substantially if the Pfizer vaccine is approved for use in ages 5-11. On Thursday, the drug manufacturer asked the FDA to grant emergency approval of its vaccine for children.
"There's a significant portion of the population there that will have access to a vaccine that's never had access to a vaccine before," Badger said.
According to the N.C. Department of Health & Human Services, 58 percent of state residents ages 18 and older have been at least partially vaccinated, while 54 percent have been fully vaccinated. There have been 11,322,849 total vaccine doses administered statewide so far.
The health department offers vaccines at no charge for ages 12 and up at the office in Murphy. For details, call 837-7486.
Nursing home rates
Badger also spoke to the vaccine rate in area nursing homes, saying residents would have likely been vaccinated by a federal vaccine program early in the pandemic. However, he expressed concerns about relatively low rates of vaccines among care home staff in Cherokee County and beyond.
According to federal data, Murphy Rehabilitation & Nursing in Peachtree showed a 79.3 percent vaccination rate among residents and 40 percent vaccination rate among staff. Meanwhile, Valley View Care & Rehab Center in Andrews showed 51.9 percent of residents are vaccinated and only 22.7 percent of staff as of Sept. 29.
Flu season nearing
Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Badger said the county was beginning to see some flu cases, with flu season on the horizon. The health department and other health-care providers are offering a flu shot.
“I know there are obviously some beliefs that flu could certainly make a pretty strong comeback this year, so time will tell,” he said, adding that it was too early to know the severity of this season’s flu. “Typically, we start seeing more of a ramp up in cases in flu around November through December or January.”
Badger added that last year, the flu was virtually nonexistent, likely due to stringent COVID-19 protection measures.
“That’s, I think, a very common-sense reality,” he said. “We certainly believe a lot of the reason we didn’t see flu was because there were extreme changes in human behavior, and those changes probably are not as extreme this year. … Obviously it’s one of those things that we’re not going to know until we get there and go through it.”