By Natalie Anderson
natalie.anderson@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Thursday’s local COVID-19 update showed Rowan County continuing to hover around 9% for positive cases.

The number showed only a slight decrease to 9.25% on Thursday after 24,018 negative tests have been reported out of the total 26,467 tests conducted.

While hospitalizations significantly decreased from 25 to 19 on Thursday — a number that’s updated daily — a weekly update from local hospitals shows 50 beds and two ventilators are being used by COVID-19 patients. The second number includes people who are from another county but seek care here. A total of 103 COVID-19-designated beds and 61 ventilators are available for use.

Statewide, a total of 945 ventilators are being used for patients out of the 2,374 available. Hospitalizations across the state had been on the decline, but rose to 1,023 on Thursday. A total of 149,904 cases have been confirmed statewide after 2 million completed tests. A total of 2,465 people have died.

An additional 30 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the county, bringing the total to 2,449. Of those, 331 are currently positive and 2,063 have recovered.

Local deaths remain unchanged, at 55, with all but 16 deaths from local congregate care facilities.

Current outbreaks and clusters include 11 employees and 33 residents at Autumn Care of Salisbury, one employee and one resident at Compass Health in Spencer, three residents at Accordius Health and five staff members at North Hills Christian School.

Accordius Health also operates the Citadel on Julian Road, which is a source of a plurality of COVID-19 deaths and was the largest outbreak in the state before it was declared over. The ownership company has yet to respond to a request for comment from the Post about the newest outbreak at its local facility.

Thursday’s county update came with little change to the demographic data regarding the outbreak in Rowan County. Hispanic residents have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic for months now, and currently comprise almost 34% of all cases. White residents make up more than half of all cases, while Black residents make up nearly 14% of all cases. Fewer than than 1% of all cases have been among Asian residents, American Indian/Alaskan Native residents and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents. A little more than 28% of all cases are considered unknown or other.

The average age of positive cases is 42.5. Young adults still make up the plurality of all cases, as 754 people aged 18-35 have tested positive. Locals between the ages of 36-50 comprise 588 cases, along with 443 cases among the 51-64 age bracket and 404 cases among those 65 and older. Cases among those under 18 are currently at 260.

Nearly 52% of all cases have been among women.

A total of 709 cases have been within zip code 28147, and 506 have been within the 28144 area.

Contact reporter Natalie Anderson at 704-797-4246.