Phoebe Howerton, 16, gets the Pfizer vaccine, one of the many Sampson residents who has taken advantage of vaccination opportunities offered in the county. See The Sampson Independent’s COVID Vaccination Guide inside today’s edition.
County case rate lowers, nears 1 in 5 vaccinated
Sampson County returned to yellow in the latest COVID-19 County Alert System, an improvement from its previous orange and a reflection of a sizable decrease in its two-week case rate and percent-positive tests.
This week, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services updated the COVID-19 County Alert System.The April 15 report from the NCDHHS utilized data from March 28 to April 10. Red denotes critical community spread/impact; orange is substantial spread; yellow is significant spread; light yellow is moderate; and green is low impact.
The new report shows one red county (Edgecombe) — an increase from zero on the previous April 1 County Alert System.
The update also lists 20 orange counties (previously 21 counties in the April 1 report), 48 yellow counties (previously 47), 30 light yellow counties (previously 31) and one green county (previously one). These updates account for 18 counties having moved up a tier (toward red) since the last report, 19 counties having moved down a tier (toward green) and 63 counties remaining in the same tier.
The County Alert System uses a combination of three metrics: case rate (number of new cases in 14 days per 100,000 people), the percent of tests that are positive over 14 days, and hospital impact within the county.
According to the April 15 report, Sampson’s 14-day case rate for the two-week period of March 28 to April 10 was 288.0 per 100,000 people, a sizable drop from the 426.6 in the April 1 report. Previous two-week case rates included 404.5 in the March 18 report; 606.0 in the March 4 report; and 453.3 in the Feb. 22 report.
The 288.0 case rate per 100,000 people was 12th highest in the state for that two-week period after having the second-highest rate for the past month.
The 14-day percent-positive in Sampson stood at 5.4% under the new report, a drop from the 8.5% in the April 1 report. Sampson’s cases were deemed to have a “slight impact” on local hospitals, according to the report.
North Carolina’s key metrics show a leveling of COVID-19 trends after several weeks of decline. Health officials said that, although levels are far below the post-holiday peak in January, most of the state continues to experience significant or substantial community spread with what they deemed “concerning increases in younger adult age groups.”
“We want to see our trends in new cases, hospitalizations and percent positive of tests decline again,” said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy K. Cohen, M.D. “The best way we can do that is by having as many people get vaccinated as quickly as possible and keep wearing our masks when out in public.”
After having the designation as one of six red “critical community spread” counties in North Carolina in early March, Sampson rebounded to yellow in the March 18 report, despite still having the second-highest two-week case rate in the state, according to the metrics.
Sampson’s case-rate remained the second-highest in North Carolina under the previous April 1 report, although its designation was a more severe orange, with the percent-positive tests also ranking fifth-highest in the state. The latest percent-positive number put Sampson in the middle of the pack for the state’s 100 counties.
More than one-fourth of Sampson County is now at least partially vaccinated, as the county nears one in five fully vaccinated, according to state figures.
To date in Sampson, 16,305 first doses and 11,797 second doses had been administered as of Thursday, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) COVID-19 Dashboard.
That amounts to 25.7% of the county’s population having been at least partially vaccinated and 18.6% being fully vaccinated.
To date, the state has administered more than 6.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, including roughly 3.5 million first doses, 2.4 million second doses and more than 250,000 single-shot doses. Approximately 45.8% of the adult population 18 and up across North Carolina is at least partially vaccinated (including 76.3% of those 65 and up), while 33.2% is fully vaccinated (including 69.9% of those 65 and up), according to the NCDHHS.
In total, 36.1% are at least partially vaccinated across the state, while 26.1% of the total population is fully vaccinated.
There are two upcoming vaccination events being held by the Sampson County Health Department, which is offering first dose vaccinations for those 18 and older who have not had any vaccine within 14 days of the event. Upcoming drive-thru vaccination events will be held:
• April 17 — 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Royal Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, 7660 Ivanhoe Road, Ivanhoe
• April 21 — 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sampson-Agri Expo Center, 414 Warsaw Road, Clinton
Vaccinations may also be available by appointment at the Sampson County Health Department. To make an appointment, call 910-490-1056 or 910-592-1131 ext. 4001. Appointment times are limited and are subject to vaccine availability.
The most recent COVID-19 report from the Sampson County Health Department was this past Tuesday, April 13.
As of April 13, there were 20,314 COVID-19 tests performed in Sampson, resulting in 12,608 negatives and 7,706 positives, which reflects 48 new cases since Thursday. There were 103 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Sampson, as of April 13, according to local health officials.
According to the NCDHHS COVID-19 Dashboard, statewide as of Friday, laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases to date totaled 943,693, including 2,475 newly-reported cases. The state tallied 12,387 deaths due to COVID-19 as of Friday. There were 1,064 hospitalized across the state.
People can find information on COVID-19 vaccines and make appointments at www.yourspotyourshot.nc.gov or by phone at 1-888-675-4567. The local COVID helpline can be reached at 910-490-1056 for information or to set appointments.