SALISBURY — State data on Friday showed Rowan County crossed 10% of residents receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Reflecting the county’s mass vaccination clinic on Thursday, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services says 14,220 local residents have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. That’s roughly 10.01% of Rowan’s residents. The number reflected an increase of 493 from the day prior.

A larger percentage of Rowan County’s population has been vaccinated than Cabarrus. Local numbers are lower than the percentage for all other neighboring counties.

Second doses administered to county residents stood at 7,794 on Friday, which is about 5.49% of county residents and 234 greater than the day prior. The percentage of Rowan residents vaccinated with two doses remains lower than all adjacent counties.

Vaccinations as well as cases are both improving, with just 42 new positives reported Friday and 716 in the previous two weeks. The total since the start of the pandemic — 14,786 — is now only a few hundred higher than the number of first doses of vaccines administered.

Deaths, however, have not slowed to the same degree as cases, with two new COVID-19 fatalities reported on Friday and eight this week. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reports 277 local deaths since the start of the pandemic and 104 since the start of the year. There have been 34 deaths this month.

Of the deaths, 250 are currently classified as molecular, meaning they are confirmed to be associated with COVID-19, and 27 are considered to be probable cases.

COVID-19 hospitalizations on Friday were relatively flat in Rowan County’s region, the Triad Health Preparedness Coalition, increasing by just three — from 343 to 346. Of those, 56 were admitted in the previous 24 hours.