By Nathan Ham
The omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the High Country with 538 new cases reported in Watauga County last week according to the latest data provided from AppHealthCare. Over the same time period, 212 new cases were reported in Ashe County and 116 new cases were reported in Alleghany County.
From January 2 through January 8, Watauga County experienced a positivity rate of 21.66%, a number that has climbed each week since December 5. AppHealthCare says that this is the highest number of cases and highest amount of community transmission that they have seen at any point during the pandemic. 69% of the positive cases were from unvaccinated individuals while 31% of the positive cases were from individuals that are considered fully vaccinated.
To help contain the spread of COVID-19, AppHealthCare is offering free KN95 masks to anyone in the community while supplies last. People are encouraged to go by the AppHealthCare offices in Alleghany, Ashe and Watauga to receive a free mask until they run out of supplies.
Currently, there are three active outbreaks or clusters of COVID-19 being reported in Watauga County. Four individuals tested positive at the Foley Center, however there are no active cases there. There have been 11 people tested positive at the Hospitality House with four active cases and four people have tested at Glenbridge Health and Rehabilitation with three of those cases currently listed as active.
“We urge you to take COVID-19 seriously and take actions now to prevent further spread of this virus. We don’t want to see anyone get sick or your loved ones to experience severe outcomes due to this virus. We have the tools to limit the impact on our communities,” said Jennifer Greene, Health Director.
Statewide, North Carolina recently surpassed two million positive cases since March 1, 2020. Last week, North Carolina broke a record for number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 with 4,098. Daily admissions for COVID-19 also broke a record at 639.
“Even with everyone’s weariness in dealing with this pandemic for almost two years, we must get boosted and vaccinated to keep us from getting severely ill if we get infected,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “The vast majority of people who are dying and who are in our hospitals and ICUs with Covid are unvaccinated and we owe it to our health care workers to help ease their heavy burden.”
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