COVID-19 cases in Randolph skyrocket

ASHEBORO — The number of positive cases of COVID-19 in Randolph County has increased dramatically in the past few weeks.

In the week of Dec. 23-30, 590 new cases were reported.

In the week of Dec. 31-Jan. 7, the number of new cases jumped to 1,373.

And last week, Jan. 8-14, they took another leap to 1,651.

That’s 3,614 new cases in just the past three weeks.

The total for the whole month between Nov. 24 and Dec. 23 was 1,389, and that average per week of about 347 cases was considered high at the time

Naturally, the percentage of new cases among tests administered have jumped as well. From 8.9% five weeks ago to 9.3% to 12.3% to 20.1% to 28.2% in each succeeding week.

The numbers of new cases outpace greatly the number of people getting vaccinated in Randolph County.

In the past three weeks, as 3,614 new cases emerged, 1,126 people have received a first vaccine shot and 796 people have become fully vaccinated.

That’s barely enough to move the statistical needle of the percentage of people vaccinated in Randolph Couty from 44% to now 45%, compared to 70% of all adults in NC and 63% of all ages 5 and up.

Vaccinations alone cannot protect an individual from contracting the virus, but they have been shown to greatly lessen the impact of needing to be hospitalized or put in the ICU and, more importantly, of dying. In a Jan. 6 report from Duke, UNC-REX and WakeMed hospitals, all patients in WakeMed and UNC Hospitals on ventilators and all on ECMO at Duke (reserved for the sicket patients) were unvaccinated.

On a statewide level, hospitalizations have more than doubled from 1,738 on Christmas Day to 4,381 on Jan. 13.
In Randolph County, 356 people have died from COVID, including 14 more in the past three weeks.