ELIZABETHTOWN — Five schools, two nursing homes and a jail in Bladen County are now listed on the state report for clusters and outbreaks.

And just what impact the omicron variant of COVID-19 is having is anyone’s guess with vast differences in reporting.

The Bladen County Health Department on Wednesday released information saying there are 962 active cases in the county. On the same day, the CDC website listed 482. That’s a difference equal to 1.6 percent of the county population.

Dr. Terri Duncan, in an email to the Bladen Journal, explained the difference writing, “NCDHHS dashboard and Bladen update are preliminary and are subject to change. There is a several day lag between NC and CDC data in reporting. Additionally home tests are not included in the case counts, and it may take several days for providers to report cases to public health. This means there are even more cases than we currently have!”

The number of fatalities remains unchanged for the county, standing at 100 since the pandemic began and two this month. Positive tests this month number 1,647, a total vastly different than previous month and that requires context if compared.

The original strain of COVID-19 was being detected when the first peak month in the pandemic, January of last year, had 765 positive tests. The delta variant of COVID-19 was being detected when Bladen County recorded 964 positive tests in August. Omnicron variant, the least virulent of these three strains, is now being detected.

The Health Department’s report this week says eight people are hospitalized. Since the pandemic began, the county has logged 7,609 positive tests and 6,547 recoveries. Statewide, there have been 20,037 deaths recorded since the pandemic began and 2,147,777 positive tests. There are 4,689 hospitalized across the state.

The county and the state do not update numbers in relation to false positive tests.

Tuesday, the state Department of Health and Human Services report on outbreaks and clusters included:

• Bladen East Health and Rehab, 10 staff members, one resident.

• Elizabethtown Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center, 11 staff, 15 residents.

• Bladen County Detention Center, no staff, two inmates.

• Bladenboro Primary, three staff, nine children.

• West Bladen High, no staff, 14 children.

• East Bladen High, one staff, 13 children.

• Elizabethtown Primary, one staff, five children.

• Emereau: Bladen Charter School, four staff, nine children.

The state defines clusters as five or more at child care facilities or schools, and outbreaks as two or more cases at congregate living settings. Numbers are cumulative from varying points and do not indicate active.

On the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 16 of 3,220 counties — all in the upper midwest to northwest — were not listed as high community transmission. The period measured is Jan. 11 to Monday for case rate, and Jan. 9 to Saturday for percent positivity.

The CDC says Bladen County has 47.8 percent (15,654) of the total population fully vaccinated and 59.8 percent (19,580) partially vaccinated. Of those age 12 and up, the numbers climb to 54.4 percent and 67.7 percent, respectively. The percentages are not a match for this past summer’s population totals from the U.S. Census.

With 94 percent of the state’s hospitals reporting, DHHS says there is availability of 65 percent of the ventilators, 14 percent of the intensive care unit beds, and 20 percent of all hospital beds.

The DHHS postal ZIP code report lists 2,521 cases in Elizabethtown and White Lake since the pandemic began; 2,106 in Bladenboro; 989 in Clarkton; 759 in East Arcadia; 420 in White Oak; 364 in Tar Heel; 195 in Council; and 156 in Kelly.

There are 37 fatalities listed for the ZIP in Bladenboro; 33 in Elizabethtown and White Lake; nine in East Arcadia; eight in Clarkton; five in Tar Heel; four in Council; three in White Oak; and one in Kelly.

In Bladen County, ages for 45 deaths are suppressed; 19 are ages 50-64, 16 are ages 65-74, 13 are ages 75-and-older, and seven are ages 25-49. The ages 25-49 category has had 37 percent of the cases, 50-64 has 20 percent, 17-and-under has 18 percent, 18-24 has 11 percent, 65-74 has 9 percent and 75-or-older has 5 percent.

In racial data for the county, 62 of the deaths are suppressed, 26 are known to be white, and nine are called “other;” in cases, 48 percent are white, 27 percent are “other,” and 25 percent are suppressed.

Statewide, ages 75-and-older has made up 50 percent of the fatalities, ages 65-74 has 24 percent, ages 50-64 has 19 percent and ages 25-49 has 7 percent. The ages 25-49 category has had 39 percent of the cases, ages 50-64 has 18 percent, ages 17-and-under has 18 percent, ages 18-24 has 13 percent, ages 65-74 has 7 percent and ages 75-or-older has 5 percent.

In racial data for the state, 68 percent of deaths are known to be white, 23 percent are black, 7 percent are called “other,” and 1 percent each are American Indian and Asian or Pacific Islander; in cases, 58 percent are white, 22 percent are black, 17 percent are “other,” 2 percent are Asian or Pacific Islander, and 1 percent are American Indian.

In adjacent counties to Bladen, Cumberland has had 513 deaths and 64,865 cases; Robeson has had 468 deaths and 33,528 cases; Columbus has had 235 deaths and 13,164 cases; Sampson has had 145 deaths and 15,122 cases; and Pender has had 105 deaths and 12,103 cases — a total of 1,466 deaths and 138,782 cases. This six-county southeastern pocket represents 7.8 percent of the state’s deaths (1,566) and 6.8 percent of the cases (146,391).

A combined 13 metropolitan counties have the state’s three largest cities and account for 37 percent of the deaths (7,417) and 47.1 percent of the cases (1,011,961) since the pandemic began.

In the Charlotte area, Mecklenburg County has had 1,386 deaths and 231,767 positive cases, Gaston County has had 672 deaths and 54,614 cases, Rowan County has had 515 deaths and 34,658 cases, Union County has had 407 deaths and 51,323 cases, Cabarrus County has had 406 deaths and 46,573 cases — a total of 3,386 deaths and 418,935 cases.

In and near the Triangle area, Wake County has had 940 deaths and 230,084 cases, Johnston County has had 363 deaths and 47,478 cases, Durham County has had 274 deaths and 56,851 cases, and Orange County has had 113 deaths and 19,291 cases — a total of 1,690 deaths and 353,704 cases.

In the interior of the 12-county Piedmont Triad, Guilford County has had 975 deaths and 97,389 cases, Forsyth County has had 653 deaths and 76,734 cases, Randolph County has had 356 deaths and 29,260 cases, and Davidson County has had 357 deaths and 35,939 cases — a total of 2,341 deaths and 239,322 cases.

According to the coronavirus tracker of Johns Hopkins University, available on BladenJournal.com, more than 68 million confirmed cases and 855,000 deaths are counted in the U.S. The second-highest case total is in India, with more than 37.9 million.

There have been more than 5.5 million deaths worldwide and 335.8 million cases.

This story authored by Alan Wooten of the Bladen Journal. Contact him at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com.