Spread of Coronavirus
Across the United States, as of Wednesday afternoon, July 29, the number of people who are confirmed to have coronavirus is 4,526,481. Sadly, 152,902 people have died from the virus.
In North Carolina the number of people who are “laboratory-confirmed” to have coronavirus is 117,850. Currently, 1,291 people are hospitalized. To date, 1,865 North Carolinians have died from coronavirus. 92,302 are presumed to have recovered as of Monday.
Much more data is available at the NC DHHS “Dashboard”. See https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard.
Locally, the number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Ashe County is 100. The number of Watauga County residents who have tested positive is 243. Of these cases, 135 are currently active. Fourteen people in the district are currently hospitalized. One person has died in Ashe County from coronavirus. In Ashe and Watauga Counties, 115 residents are currently being monitored as possibly having Covid-19.
You can get more local data from the AppHealth Care Dashboard at https://www.apphealthcare.com/covid-19-information/covid-19-data-dashboard/.
Our prayers are with all these people affected by coronavirus along with their families.
Please follow public health officials’ guidance: Wear a face mask in public settings. Wait 6 feet apart. Wash your hands frequently.
Remote Learning for Watauga Students First 9 Weeks
Based on guidance from local health officials, the Watauga County Board of Education voted Tuesday to begin the 2020-21 school year with 9 weeks of remote instruction for students.
Read more: https://www.apphealthcare.com/watauga-county-schools-to-open-school-year-with-9-weeks-of-remote-learning/
Free Covid-19 Testing at AHS this Saturday
AppHealthCare is partnering with Mako Medical Laboratories to offer COVID-19 testing for Ashe County residents. Drive-thru testing will be available Saturday, August 1st 9:00am-2:00pm at Ashe High School, 184 Campus Drive, West Jefferson.
Read more: https://www.apphealthcare.com/free-covid-19-drive-thru-testing-event-for-ashe-county-saturday-august-1st/
Executive Order 153 Will Limit Alcohol Sales to 11 pm
To limit the spread of coronavirus, Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday that he’s implementing a statewide restriction ending all alcohol sales for on-site consumption at 11 p.m. nightly, starting Friday.
Read more: https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/cooper-issues-statewide-restriction-on-late-night-alcohol-sales/19209144/
Read the Executive Order: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/EO-153-Restricting-Late-Night-Service-of-Alcoholic-Beverages.pdf
Help During the Pandemic
DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen announced recently the launch of a website that will assist those in need of things like help navigating the unemployment landscape, food assistance, or housing and shelter, among other things.
The NCCARE360.org website is now interactive for all 100 counties. A test program was created in 2019 for four NC counties, and it was thought it would take until December 2020 for the program to go live for the whole state, but teams rollled up their sleeves and worked overtime to make it available during this critical time for the state. Go to the website to request assistance from agencies in your area: https://nccare360.org/
If You have Coronavirus Symptoms…
If you believe you have symptoms of coronavirus and live in Watauga County:1) Call AppHealthCare at 828-264-4995 or (828) 795-1970 during regular business hours,2) Visit https://apprhs.org/covid19-screening/ online and follow screening instructions, or3) Call your primary care doctor.
If you believe you have symptoms of coronavirus and live in Ashe County call AppHealthCare at 336-246-9449 or call your primary care doctor.
More Information
Our public heath office, AppHealthCare, is the primary local source of information about coronavirus. See https://www.apphealthcare.com/covid-19-information/
For more information from our hospitals, see Appalachian Regional’s website at https://apprhs.org/COVID19/ or Ashe Memorial Hospital’s website at https://www.ashememorial.org/ for their updates.
For information specific to North Carolina, the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) provides the latest information on COVID-19 at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/. Also, North Carolina coronavirus updates are available by calling 888.892.1162 or by texting COVIDNC to 898211