By Natalie Anderson and Shavonne Potts
news@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — County officials reported two additional COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, which amounts to seven new reported deaths in the county in the last two days.

A total of 34 individuals have died from COVID-19 here, including the significant spike in recent days. With one death added Wednesday, there are 20 COVID-19 deaths at the Citadel and a total of 12 from the N.C. State Veterans Home, which was the site of all five deaths reported Tuesday.

There are 157 cases at the Citadel, including staff and with some of those cases occurring among people who do not live in Rowan County. A total of 43 individuals at the veterans home have tested positive for COVID-19.

Pruitt Health, which manages the N.C. State Veterans Home, has not responded to the Post’s request for comment on the several veterans deaths from Monday. The facility was criticized Wednesday by Rowan Public Health Director Nina Oliver, who said the facility was delayed in reporting the five deaths that were all announced Tuesday.

County spokesperson T.J. Brown echoed Oliver by saying all five deaths weren’t all from just Tuesday. He cited potential confusion from the veterans home on whether the facility or the hospital is responsible for reporting the deaths to the county. He added that the county has clarified to the facility that it is their responsibility to report.

The number of non-congregate care deaths increased by one on Wednesday, indicating that one of the two deaths on Wednesday was from an individual outside of local nursing homes that are the site of active outbreaks. The average age among the deaths is 83.

The total number of positive COVID-19 cases in the county is 612, with 231 individuals currently positive, 347 recoveries and eight current hospitalizations. A total of 3,391 tests have been conducted.

Statewide, a total of 24,628 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 after 364,156 completed tests. A total of 702 individuals are being hospitalized, and 794 individuals have died across the state.

In other COVID-19 statistics:

• The average age for positive individuals is 50.9. Individuals age 65 and older make up the plurality of cases, at 182, and the 51-64 age group has now reached 107 cases. However, ages 36-50 and 18-35 continue to climb — at 144 and 155 cases, respectively. A total of 24 cases are among children younger than 18 years old.
• Of the positive cases, 366 individuals are white, 126 are black or African American, three are Asian, one is American Indian/Alaskan Native, 138 are Hispanic, 84 are unknown and 32 are other.
• Females still make up the majority of positive cases, at 313, while males represent 299 positive cases.
• Zip code 28147, which is where the Citadel nursing home is located, remains the area of the county with the most positive cases, at 264. Next is 28144, a Salisbury zip code, with 169 cases. Zip code 28146, which includes part of Salisbury and a large swath of eastern Rowan, currently has 66 positive cases.

Editor’s note: Because of an error in Rowan County’s data, a previous version of this story said one of the deaths reported Wednesday was at the N.C. State Veterans Home. That is incorrect. We apologize for the error.