Spread of Coronavirus
Across the United States, as of Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 4, the number of people who are confirmed to have coronavirus is 4,883,818. Sadly, 159,499 people have died from the virus.
In North Carolina the number of people who are “laboratory-confirmed” to have coronavirus is 128,161. Currently, 1,166 people are hospitalized. To date, 2,010 North Carolinians have died from coronavirus. NCDHHS estimates as of Monday that 105,093 have recovered.
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 126. The number of Watauga County residents who have tested positive is 283. Of these cases, 126 are currently active. Fourteen people in the district have been hospitalized at some point during the outbreak. One person has died in Ashe County from coronavirus. In Ashe and Watauga Counties, 105 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.
Free Covid-19 Testing for Ashe Residents this Saturday
AppHealthCare is partnering with Mako Medical Laboratories to offer COVID-19 testing for Alleghany and Ashe County residents. Drive-thru testing will be available Saturday, August 8th 9:30am-1:00pm at Alleghany High School, 404 Trojan Avenue in Sparta. Individuals must be residents of Alleghany or Ashe County and over 10 years of age.
Read more: https://www.apphealthcare.com/free-covid-19-drive-thru-testing-event-for-alleghany-ashe-residents-saturday-august-8th/
102 Cases of Covid-19 at Nearby Allegheny County Farm
AppHealthCare has confirmed and are continuing to investigate an outbreak of COVID-19 at Bottomley Evergreens and Farms in Allegheny County. To date, there have been 102 confirmed cases and results are still pending for some individuals. The majority of the positive cases are reporting no symptoms.
Read more: https://www.apphealthcare.com/confirmed-covid-19-cases-at-bottomley-evergreens-farms/
This news story brings home the message that we all must continue to be vigilant and work to protect each other. The health and safety of our area farm workers is vital for our economy as well as our own.
Report Price Gouging at NC DOJ Link or By Calling
Reminder to all North Carolinians: The price-gouging law that protects people from scammers is currently in effect. The North Carolina Department of Justice will be reviewing price gouging complaints from consumers closely and are prepared to take action against any businesses engaging in price gouging activities. You can report potential price gouging or scams by calling 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or by filing a complaint at https://ncdoj.gov/file-a-complaint/price-gouging/
How to Request an Absentee Ballot for the Nov. Election
Ashe County:https://nmcdn.io/e186d21f8c7946a19faed23c3da2f0da/9daed2ecce2a4df2845caa12db947e3d/files/NC-Absentee-Ballot-Request-Form.pdfNeed more information? Contact the Ashe County Board of Elections at asheelections@ashecountygov.com or call 336-846-5570.
Watauga County:http://www.wataugacounty.org/App_Pages/Dept/BOE/notices.aspxNeed more information? Contact the Watauga County Board of Elections at Matthew.Snyder@watgov.org or call 828-265-8061.
Early voting sites have not been determined yet for either county.
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