By Natalie Anderson
natalie.anderson@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Roughly 25% of the COVID-19 cases reported in Rowan County are currently active, according to local data.

Sunday’s (116) and Monday’s (91) positive case additions bring the total to 7,054 since March, with 24.8%, or 1,748, of those currently active. That nearly 25% of cases are currently active reflect the fact that new positives have come at a much faster pace in recent weeks. At the beginning of November, the two-week average of daily case increases was less than 30 and the total number of cases was about 4,200. Now, the average is hovering around 100 new cases per day.

Deaths remained at 150 on Monday, with all but 61 among local congregate care facilities and an average age of 80 among all deaths.

A total of 18 Rowan Countians are being hospitalized for the virus. In total, 326 Rowan Countians have been hospitalized, with an average age of 65 among them.

State health officials on Monday reported 4,770 additional cases, which totals 441,365 cases since March after 6.02 million tests. Monday’s daily positivity rate was 11.6%, while the overall positivity rate across the state is 7.3%. A total of 2,553 North Carolinians are being hospitalized, and 5,855 have died.

Of the current hospitalizations, 292 were admitted within the last 24 hours. Additionally, Rowan County’s health region, the Triad Healthcare Preparedness Coalition, reports the plurality of hospitalizations at 755. The Triad region also reports the plurality of ICU beds and inpatient hospital beds in use at 467 and 3,546, respectively.

The Triad region also includes Iredell, Davie and Davidson counties.

State health officials also report that as of Monday, cases associated with K-12 school clusters declined after remaining steady over the last four weeks. Additionally, cases associated with clusters in college and university settings were reported at the lowest level since June.

While COVID-19 testing at the West End Plaza was canceled on Monday due to inclement weather, free testing will continue there from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Friday. Additional free testing will be available at Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church, located at 719 S. Caldwell St., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Both CVS and Novant Health Rowan continue to provide COVID-19 testing as well, but an appointment is needed ahead of time. Other places offering testing include the W.G. Hefner VA Medical Center, which is only testing veterans, and Fastmed Clinic on Klumac Road.

Additionally, the Cabarrus-Rowan Community Health Centers will move regular testing at Rowan Helping Ministries to the county health department on Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to noon.

On Monday, the CDC reported 181,032 new cases, totaling 16.11 million cases since January, along with 298,266 deaths.