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Stanly County added 20 new coronavirus cases on Friday as the county reached 912 cumulative cases, according to data from the health department. It’s a slight decrease from the 22 new cases on Thursday.

There are currently 236 active cases and 11 people who are hospitalized, while 656 people who previously had the virus have recovered.

While Stanly continues to experience a steady increase in cases per day, the number of deaths due to the virus, which had been constant throughout much of the pandemic, spiked this week. There are now 20 deaths in the county, more than double the number at the beginning of last week, when there were eight confirmed deaths. From the information available from the state, three inmates at Albemarle Correctional have died, along with two residents at Woodhaven Court and three residents at Spring Arbor.

A majority of the cases, 676, have been transmitted through human to human contact, while 194 have been transmitted through community spread.

The percentage of tests that have come back positive is around 11 percent, which is higher than the statewide total of 8 percent. An estimated 8,673 people have been tested.

The county has experienced a roughly 126 percent increase in cases since June 30, when there were only 402 reported cases, and a 42 percent increase since July 17, when there were 643 cases.

There have been 10 outbreaks in the county in congregate living facilities, the largest of which has come from Albemarle Correctional, where 106 inmates and 32 staff members have been infected. The second largest outbreak is at Woodhaven Court, where 41 residents and staff have been infected.

According to the Harvard University interactive COVID risk assessment map, which charts coronavirus risks by state and county according to the number of new cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days, Stanly ranks 8th in the state as of Friday with 30 new cases per day. Stanly was 9th in the state at the beginning of the week with 27.5 new cases.

Across the state, 122,148 cases have been confirmed after more than 1.76 million completed tests. A total of 1,229 people are hospitalized, and 1,924 people have died.

Stanly is part of a 13-county group called the Metrolina Healthcare Preparedness Region, which has more people hospitalized with COVID-19 than any other region, according to DHHS.

A total of 366 patients in the Metrolina Region are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. Twenty-nine were admitted within the past 24 hours, and 133 suspected of having COVID-19 had been admitted in that time, with 94 percent of hospitals reporting. Hospitals in the region had 106 adult patients in ICUs.

In the Metrolina Region, there were 805 empty inpatient hospital beds, including 63 ICU beds, along with 580 available ventilators.

The demographics continue to stay relatively constant in Stanly, with people ages 25 to 49 being the group most likely to contract the virus (43 percent of all cases) followed by those ages 50 to 64 (24 percent). Children younger than 17 and those ages 18-24 have each accounted for around 9 percent of all cases.

White people still account for a vast majority of cases while Black people, which make up 11 percent of the county’s population, account for around 24 percent of cases.

Males in Stanly accounted for 51 percent of the cases while Hispanics, which make up about 4 percent of the county population, account for 16 percent of cases.

Contact reporter Chris Miller at 704-982-2122.