SALISBURY — As families gathered for Thanksgiving on Thursday, Rowan County set another record and moved deeper into a worsening pandemic.

With 100 new positives, Rowan County on Thursday set a record for most COVID-19 cases reported in one day. The previous record was 90 cases, which was recorded in April after a batch of positives were reported from the Citadel nursing home.

While those statistics came as more people got tested in advance of holiday travel, the record is not the result of high testing numbers alone, as a weekly update of the cases returning positive also increased. The percent of cases returning positive one week ago was 7.68% after 5,023 positives and 65,407 total tests. By Thursday, there were 5,462 positives and 69,554 total tests — a positive rate of 7.86% over the course of the entire pandemic. A greater percentage of positive tests is thought to indicate worsening spread in a community.

The Rowan County Health Department counts 932 cases as currently active, with 22 Rowan County residents in the hospital and 131 dead. The total number of COVID-19 dead was unchanged on Thursday, but county health officials moved two deaths from the “non-congregate” category to The Laurels of Salisbury, a nursing home on Lash Drive. The deaths, which occurred on Nov. 12 and Nov. 16 had been mistakenly placed in the non-congregate category, health officials said.

The two deaths are the first reported at the Laurels, which has an active outbreak in which 54 residents have tested positive.

Other outbreaks are active at Accordius Health, Autumn Care, the N.C. State Veterans Home, the Citadel, Trinity Oaks Skilled Nursing, Compass Assisted Living and the Meadows of Rockwell.

There was no statewide COVID-19 update on Thursday because of the Thanksgiving holiday