WADESBORO — Following a week that saw a decline in new cases, the Anson County Health Department still announced three new COVID-related deaths in the county over the weekend of Feb. 12.

Anson County has slowly seen a decline in cases after the holiday surge. On Feb. 1 the health department announced 156 total active cases. One week later, the active cases dropped to 111. As of Feb. 15, the active cases are down to 79, about a 48% decrease in active cases since the start of Feb.

In comparison, the first few weeks of Jan. saw an increase in active cases. The total active cases on Jan. 4 were at 195. In one week it jumped to 276 active cases before dropping again to 247 on Jan. 18.

Despite the decrease, the death toll continues to rise. This past weekend, the county saw three more lives taken from the virus. There are now 52 COVID-related deaths.

The county has seen a total of 2,220 COVID cases since the virus was first reported in Anson. This is about 9.08% of the county’s population.

According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services about 56% of those infected from COVID-19 are female and 44% are male. Those who are between the ages of 25 and 49 are seeing the highest number of cases at 38%, but this is also the largest age range.

The next highest at 25% are residents who are between the ages of 50 and 64.

The health department urges those who are now eligible for the vaccine to make an appointment to receive the Moderna shot before Feb. 24. This will give residents more availability with appointments before the next Group in the roll out plan starts.

Reach Liz O’Connell at 704-994-5471 or at eoconnell@ansonrecord.com. Follow on Twitter at @TheAnsonRecord.