After reaching a peak near the beginning of the month, the average of new daily COVID-19 positives has dropped continuously.

The 14-day average of new cases, a metric also used state health officials and Gov. Roy Cooper use to determine whether to lift restrictions, peaked Sept. 2 at about 30 per day. That’s due to new cases increases coming in the mid or low teens. Cases on Sunday and Monday, for example, increased by 16 and 13, respectively.

The percentage of positive cases has also declined with weekly updates, which could indicate that the virus is spreading more slowly in the general population than in the past. Though, the percentage of positive cases — 8.48% — remains above the 5% that health officials recommend.

As of Monday, there were 362 active cases, 21 Rowan residents hospitalized, 2,619 people recovered and 81 deaths. There have been 35,339 tests conducted in Rowan County and 3,062 positives.

As new cases have slowed, local demographic data remains relatively unchanged. Women make up a majority — 53.3% — of cases among Rowan County residents. The 18-35 age group has a plurality of cases, at 920. The 36-50 age group is next-highest, at 706. Hispanic Rowan Countians continue to be disproportionately affected by the outbreak, with 29% of all positives.

The average age of positives is 43.3. The average age of those hospitalized is 63, and 80 is the average age of the dead.

Statewide, there are 185,781 lab confirmed cases, 2.63 million completed tests, 895 people currently hospitalized and 3,060 dead. Of those who have tested positive, 167,257 statewide are considered recovered.