Health officials say Dare County has seen five breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in fully vaccinated individuals.
Last week, there were 44 new positive cases reported in Dare County. The total COVID-19 positive case count for Dare County is 3,157, of which there are 21 active cases among residents of Dare County.
Since last Tuesday, there have been 41 new COVID-19 cases, with 72 percent symptomatic and 86% acquiring the virus by direct contact with an individual or individuals who were positive for COVID-19, Dare County Health and Human Services said in a Tuesday update.
Contact tracing investigations of new positive cases now also includes assessing vaccination status, the update said. In the month of April, there were five breakthrough cases reported in Dare County. A breakthrough case is where a fully vaccinated individual has a laboratory confirmed positive COVID diagnostic test. Fully vaccinated means 14 days post receipt of the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna or 14 day post receipt of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
Of those cases, four individuals experienced mild to moderate symptoms and one was asymptomatic. Three of the symptomatic individuals acquired the virus by direct contact with an unvaccinated individual/individuals. It is unclear how the other two individuals acquired the virus, health officials said. Two of the breakthrough cases received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, one received the Pfizer vaccine and two received the Moderna vaccine.
The virus continues to be predominantly spread by direct contact between family members, co-workers and close friends, health officials said.
“We know we can control the spread of the virus by practicing the 3Ws. Please wear a face covering, wait 6 ft apart from others and wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer. In addition to the 3Ws, the most effective tool in controlling the spread of this virus is to get your COVID vaccine,” the update said.
More from Dare County Health and Human Services:
COVID-19 Vaccine
It continues to be easier and quicker than ever to get your COVID-19 vaccine. Any N.C. resident, property owner or employee working in NC, can simply schedule a vaccine appointment with our department by going online to darenc.com/covidvaccine or by calling the COVID call center at 252-475-5008. You may also contact one of the many area pharmacies which are providing COVID vaccinations including: Walgreens, Sunshine Family Pharmacy, Island Pharmacy, Bear Drugs, and Beach Pharmacy.
Over the past 4 months we have provided 15,876 initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and have fully vaccinated 15,712 individuals. In addition to preventing serious illness and death, getting your COVID-19 vaccine prevents you from being quarantined if you are exposed to a person who tests positive for COVID, as long as you remain symptom free. To date, there have been no reports in Dare County of serious illness or death of anyone who has been fully vaccinated. Now is a great time to get your vaccine so you can be fully vaccinated before the busy summer season is upon us.
Key Metrics
Each week we review the 4 key metrics associated with disease investigation and surveillance. The metrics are:
Number of Tests
Confirmed Cases
Positive Tests as a Percent of Total Tests
COVID Like Illness Surveillance
This past week there were 406 COVID-19 diagnostic tests reported in Dare County. This brings the total number of tests performed since early March of last year to 38,382. There were 44 positive cases between April 26 and May 2. The percent of positive tests to overall tests in Dare County since we started testing in March 2020 increased slightly to 8.21%. The percent of positive tests to total tests for the past week increased to 10.8%. Syndromic surveillance of individuals presenting with COVID like symptoms to the emergency department and urgent care centers continues to show low levels of activity. These graphs can be found on the Dare County website at www.darenc.com/covid19.
Communications and Information Sharing
Dare County DHHS has an established schedule of communication to share information regarding COVID-19. Every Tuesday, a written update and a video update which includes an overview of the previous week’s COVID-19 key metrics is issued. Additional updates will be released as needed. All released videos and written updates can be found on our website, DHHS facebook page, Dare County Twitter page, and Dare Emergency Management Twitter page. If you would like to receive these updates directly to your email, please sign up to receive our enotifications.
New positive cases are updated on the dashboard on our website and shared on the DHHS facebook page when we receive them. To find the most up-to-date information on COVID-19 cases in Dare County visit www.darenc.com/covid19. State COVID-19 data is available at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard.
