NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The county began reporting ‘resumed recovered’ Covid-19 cases this week, alongside the other case information that’s been regularly reported.
As of the week ending on the evening of Friday, August 7, the New Hanover County Public Health department had tracked 2,040 recoveries, defined as cases that had gone two weeks from a positive test without hospitalization, or 28 days after a positive test if the patient was hospitalized.
To date, the county has tracked 2,630 cumulative positive cases and 20 deaths; this means a mortality rate of about .8% for the county, although that percentage could be lower if there are unreported cases and higher if there are unreported deaths.
The demographics for those cases have leaned slightly towards female patients (at 54% to 46% for male patients); the largest number of cases have been in the 25-49-year-old age range, followed by the 18-24-year-old age range.
As in other parts of the country, the numbers of Black and Hispanic patients in New Hanover County are disproportionately high based on U.S. Census Bureau data. While Black residents make up roughly 13.5% of the county’s population, they make up 22% of the county’s Covid-19 cases. Hispanic residents make up roughly 6% of the county’s population (with a slightly higher 9% reported by the county itself), but account for 22% of the county’s Covid-19 cases.
You can find out more about the root causes of these disparities from the CDC report on Covid-19 and health equity and a recent publication from the Brooking Institute.
Recent testing stats
Over the last week, New Hanover County reported 189 cases, down significantly from the last several weeks (which saw weekly totals of 347, 283, and 322 for the weeks ending July 31, July 24, and July 17).
The number of daily cases has also been trending down. The county saw the highest daily totals in July, with peak days topping 70 or 80 cases. In recent weeks, daily case numbers have averaged around 45.
Below: A two-part chart. The rising line indicates cumulative total cases (a number which, by definition, can only rise or level off); the individual vertical lines represent daily totals, which can rise or — as they have in recent days — fall).
‘Congregate’ living outbreaks
Congregate living facilities — including jails and prisons, senior centers, and residential care centers — have been hit hard by Covid-19. Brunswick County has tracked several outbreaks, defined as two or more cases in the same facilities; Pender County has also had an outbreak in its prison, which it eventually announced.
New Hanover County is currently tracking ten outbreaks, the majority of which are located in nursing homes. In total, roughly 120 cases have been tied to outbreaks so far, including staff and resident/patient/child cases.
It’s important to note that neither the county nor the state has data for multiple cases linked to retail, dining, or other establishments.
NHRMC data
New Hanover Regional Medical Center initially declined to publicly release data on the number of cases, but later changed course stating that with higher case numbers the risk of revealing individual patient identities had gone down.
Over the last week, NHRMC saw 41 new Covid-19 patients, bringing the total to 375 since the beginning of the pandemic. Roughly 300 patients have been discharged over the last five months. NHRMC saw an average of 31 patients hospitalized over the last week, down slightly from the previous week.
While New Hanover County did not receive notification of any Covid-19 deaths over the last week, two patients at NHRMC who live in other counties did pass away from the virus or complications. To date, 45 NHRMC patients with Covid-19 have died; 20 were county residents.
Note: This article initially stated there were 75 Covid-19 patients hospitalized at NHRMC; the average is 31.
