By Natalie Anderson
natalie.anderson@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — An additional person not associated with a congregate care facility has died from COVID-19, marking eight deaths in the county in as many days.

A total of 64 people have now died, with 46 of the deaths among local nursing homes and congregate care facilities. The average age among the deaths is 81.

Cases continue to surge at local congregate care facilities as the total has now reached 425. Of those, 166 are active cases, with the largest outbreak reported at Trinity Oaks Health and Rehab, which has 30 positive employees and 40 positive residents. Other active outbreaks include Autumn Care of Salisbury, with 12 positive employees and 33 positive residents; Accordius Health, with four positive employees and 36 positive residents; the Citadel, with three positive employees and three positive residents; and Compass Health of Spencer, with one positive employee and one positive resident.

An additional 63 positive cases were reported to the county on Monday, with 451 cases currently positive. Nearly 81% of all cases have recovered. The percentage of tests reported positive continues to hover around 9%.

Currently, 23 people are hospitalized and 187 people have been hospitalized in total since March.

Statewide, 167,313 people have been confirmed positive after 2.26 million completed tests for a rate of 7.2%. Average turnaround time for tests is at two days. A total of 923 people are being hospitalized across the state, and 2,702 people have died. The state presumes 145,884 people have recovered, which is 87% of the total number of cases.

Young adults aged 18-35 continue to make up the plurality of cases, at 834, bringing the average age of cases to 43.3.

While Cabarrus County has more total cases than Rowan County, Rowan has more currently active cases. Of Cabarrus County’s 3,284 cases, 399 are currently active.

Zip code 28147 is the area hit hardest by COVID-19, as it has reached 756 cases. It is also where the Citadel of Salisbury is located. Zip code 28144 has seen 619 cases, which is where Trinity Oaks Health and Rehab and Accordius Health are located.

Monday’s county update came with few changes to the demographic data regarding the outbreak. Hispanic residents currently comprise nearly 31% of all cases. White residents make up more than half of all cases. Black residents make up 13% of all cases, and fewer than than 1% of all cases have been among Asian residents, American Indian/Alaskan Native residents and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents. Nearly 30% of all cases are considered unknown or other.

Contact reporter Natalie Anderson at 704-797-4246.