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The Stanly County Health Department reported 1,335 new cases this week, down from the 1,566 recorded last week. While this marks the first weekly decrease this month, the rate of hospitalizations has drastically increased.

With the addition of this week’s cases, there have been almost 18,000 Covid cases since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The county’s percent positive rate remains at 38 percent; it has not significantly changed since it was around 26 percent on Jan. 14. The state’s positivity rate is slightly lower, at 30 percent.

There are approximately 2,815 active cases that have been identified within the county, an eight percent increase from the roughly 2,600 active cases last week.

Hospitalizations have rapidly increased to record levels over the past few days, after staying relatively steady for the last several weeks. There are 48 people currently hospitalized, down from Thursday’s all-time record of 49 and a 60 percent increase from last Friday, when only 30 people were in the hospital.

“It really comes down to being a numbers game,” Stanly County Health Director David Jenkins said. “The more cases, the more hospitalizations and any time you have hospitalizations, it can lead to death. It’s very concerning for us.”

There were seven deaths for the week through Friday, bringing the cumulative tally to 245. Since the beginning of last January, when vaccines were first made available, 155 people have died, accounting for more than 60 percent of the total.

The state reported 22,631, new cases on Friday, down from the 28,573 cases the day before and a 50 percent decrease from the all-time high of 44,833 on Jan. 13. Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 hit a record-breaking high Wednesday with 5,201 people needing medical assistance, though the tally fell to 5,084 Thursday.