Thirty cases in one week.
Fueled by outbreaks at both Graham Healthcare & Rehabilitation and a local church, Graham County’s COVID-19 case count has been on a meteoric rise over the last month. The surge has also forced Graham County Schools to switch to remote learning until Monday, Oct. 26, due to a lack of available faculty and substitutes from the high volume of quarantined individuals.
The Graham County Health Department then announced Tuesday morning that a cluster – or a 14-day, minimum of five – cases had been traced to sixth-grade students and staff at Robbinsville Elementary School. Contact-tracing is underway.
But the biggest single-week jump in positive cases just occurred. From Sept. 1-8, 24 new cases were confirmed. Between Oct. 6-13, 30 new positive tests came in.
Just one month ago, Graham only had 90 cases. Those numbers have more than doubled.
As of Tuesday, Graham County had 226 positive tests. Seven deaths have occurred countywide, all since the first one was confirmed Sept. 17.
Statewide, Tyrrell (118), Camden (128), Madison (130), Hyde (149), Clay (154), Gates (157), Mitchell and Jones (174), Swain (176), Currituck (207), Perquimans (213) are the only of North Carolina’s 100 counties that have less than Graham.
The Oct. 9 gender and age report from the Graham County Health Department reported the 25-49 age group still makes up the highest percentage of positive cases at 29 percent. Women made up 62 percent, while 60 percent of the county’s deaths – all women – are attributed to those ages 75 and older.