Anson COVID cases dropping, no longer ‘critical’ spread

WADESBORO — Anson County moved down from a “critical” COVID spread designation by the state to a less significant category as cases continue to drop.

Every two weeks the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services publishes a county alert system which categorizes each county into three different tiers depending on the number of COVID-19 cases: yellow means significant community spread, orange is substantial and red is critical community spread.

The county alert system combines the case rate, percent of test that are positive and the hospital impact within the county to determine what group a county falls in over a 14-day period.

Anson County first moved into the critical red status on Dec. 8 as the 14-day COVID case rates per 100,000 people reached 609.5, but then dropped back to orange two weeks later.

For all of January and the beginning of February, Anson remained in critical status. As of Feb. 18, Anson dropped to a yellow status.

The Anson County Health Department reported 2,258 total COVID-19 cases with only 59 active cases on Feb. 22. This is the lowest of number of active cases the health department published since Nov. 11.

Even with a drop in cases, there are still residents who are losing their life to the virus. The death toll is now at 53 as another life was taken over the weekend. The health department still advises all, with or without the vaccine, to follow the three W’s: wear a mask, wait six feet apart and wash your hands.

There are only 27 counties in the red critical status, according to the NCDHHS. This is the fewest amount of red counties since the County Alert System started. Forty counties are in the orange tier and 33, including Anson, are in yellow.

The orange and yellow numbers are both an increase from Feb. 4, showing the vaccines, along with limiting public interactions and following the three W’s.