Bethany Woods experiences surge in coronavirus cases

Published 6:34 pm Friday, August 28, 2020

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Bethany Woods Nursing and Rehabilitation Center recently experienced a surge of coronavirus cases as revealed Friday, bringing its current total to 40 (23 residents and 17 staff members), according to data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Bethany Woods previously had only seven cases.

Bethany Wood represents one of eight outbreaks in the county in congregate living facilities, the largest of which has come from Albemarle Correctional, where 193 inmates and at least 36 staff members have been infected. The largest outbreaks at care facilities have come from Stanly Manor, with 75 cases and six deaths, and Woodhaven Court, with 72 cases and five deaths. An outbreak is defined as two or more laboratory-confirmed cases.

Stanly County added 19 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing its cumulative total to 1,467, according to data from the county health department. It’s a decrease from the 28 new cases reported Thursday.

There are 335 active cases and 13 people who are hospitalized, while 1,081 people who previously had the virus have recovered. There are an average of about 20 new cases per day.

There are now 51 deaths in the county, roughly three times the number from a month ago, when there were only 17 confirmed deaths.

Across the state, 162,491 cases have been confirmed after more than 2.1 million completed tests, according to data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. A total of 970 people are hospitalized and 2,652 people have died.

The demographics continue to stay relatively constant in Stanly, according to health department data, with people ages 25 to 49 being the group most likely to contract the virus (40 percent of all cases) followed by those ages 50 to 64 (24 percent). Children younger than 17 and those ages 18-24 have accounted for roughly 7 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

White people account for a vast majority of cases (59 percent) while Black people, which make up 11 percent of the county’s population, account for around 21 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.

The health department reported that 352 cases, or 25 percent of the total, have come from people in congregate living facilities.

About Chris Miller

Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.

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