Thursday was Lee County’s second consecutive day with 16 new confirmed Coronavirus cases, an announcement that brought the county’s total to 80.
Lee County Government announced the cases in an email Thursday afternoon; as of this writing the press release had not been posted to the county’s website.
The number of patients who have recovered and resumed normal activity remained at seven. The remaining 73 cases are under observation. There have been no COVID-19 deaths reported in Lee County.
Wednesday’s report also included a small amount of additional information about patients with positive tests. Before Wednesday, the county had declined to provide any information about patients, citing federal health privacy laws. But with Wednesday’s announcement, officials decided to begin reporting age range and gender for patients and said they had declined to do so earlier “due to the low number of cases.”
Because demographic data is reported on a 24 hour delay, Thursday’s cases are not included in the count. But of the 64 cases reported through Wednesday, 66 percent were female and 34 percent were male.
There were eight cases between the ages of 0 and 24, 29 between the ages of 25 and 44, 24 between the ages of 45 and 64, and three who were 65 and older.
Additionally, the department said that if an employer or other facility publicly discloses cases, they may be able to respond to some questions “but only to the extent of what has already been shared publicly” and also said that it has been working with employers to ensure they’re up to date on recommendations and guidelines for employee safety.
Are there any “hot spots” in Lee County. This could be vital information. Are there processing plants, retail stores or nursing homes involved. This type of information can be of life or death for us.
The county doesn’t release that information right now.
I agree John. As I said on 4-11, I understand patient privacy. But rather than backtrack possible contacts, it seems to me that disclosing the source of infection(s) would enable the public to determine if they were possibly exposed to a particular virus. I don’t really need to know age, sex, race or personal info.
Does the Lee County Health Dept. use “tracing”?
That’s the method other Health Departments are using to connect to people who have come in contact with an affected person.
Could The Rant, as a News Source contact the Lee Co. or the N.C. Department of Health to find out and report on this practice?
I saw on TV that the Governor of NY stated they are hiring people to be “Tracers” (NY has so many cases). Since NC has fewer cases they may already be “Tracing”. Most Health Departments already use this method when someone has T.B.