ANSON COUNTY — Anson County has six laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday.
One of these cases is a community spread which means Health Department officials do not know where the virus originated. Three of the six cases have been discharged because they meet the following guidelines: At least seven days have passed since symptoms first appeared, three days have passed since recovery defined as resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and improvement in respiratory symptoms.
The first Anson County case of COVID-19 was a woman who tested positive on Tuesday, March 31. The test was conducted by Atrium Health and the patient is being monitored and following isolation orders. She was in contact with a known case of COVID-19 and was not an unknown transmission case.
A contact risk assessment was conducted by Kristy Davis, Communicable Disease Nurse at the Health Department, to determine where the patient has been and who they have had close contact with. Due to privacy laws, the name and zip code of the individual with the confirmed case of COVID-19 will not be released.
“This individual is being monitored daily by the Health department and there are protocols in place for when she will be able to come out of isolation and go back to work. She’ll have to be symptom-free for a specific period of time,” said Doctor Fred Thompson, Health Director.
Dr. Thompson is concerned that there could be a large percentage of unsymptomatic people in Anson County who are walking around unaware they have COVID-19 and unwittingly transmitting the disease to others.
“That’s why it’s so important to adhere to the stay at home guidelines, the social distancing,” said Thompson. “Once we have more widespread testing of people that are healthy, who don’t have any symptoms, then we’ll get a better feel for what percent of the population is walking around with the coronavirus but don’t know it.”
“This whole thing with ‘flattening the curve,’ I think sometimes people are losing sight of the fact that flattening the curve doesn’t mean you’re going to stop transmission of the virus. A lot of epidemiologists are saying that over the next 6 to 18 months, most people in the world will have been exposed to the COVID-19 virus, just like most people in the world have been exposed to the virus that causes the common cold or seasonal flu,” the doctor said.
“Flattening the curve” really means slowing the spread of COVID-19 so the hospitals don’t get totally overwhelmed, he explained.
“I think that’s a good move. I know a lot of the hospitals in N.C. have delayed elective procedures. Something like 40 percent of hospital beds is empty because hospitals have been eliminating admission,” Thompson said. “Generally speaking, I think NC is probably as well prepared for a surge in patients as any other state.”
The good news, according to Dr. Thompson, is that over 80 percent of people that get the virus have very mild symptoms. 15 percent of people infected will display moderate to severe symptoms. Those at most risk are individuals with obesity, diabetes, chronic lung disease are more at risk.