COVID related death toll at 5

Clay County Health Department reported two deaths from COVID-19 related complications within a three-day span last week. That brings our death toll to five.

On Nov. 6, the health department reported that a person in their late 70s had died from “secondary complications” related to COVID-19 and that person had “traveled outside of North Carolina prior to initial diagnosis.” On Nov. 9, the health department reported the death of a person in their late 80s “with several perexisting health conditions and a contact to a previously positive case.”

They did not share additional details, but reminded the public to practice “simple, yet important” preventive measures to help slow the spread of coronavirus like washing hands, social distancing and wearing a mask. In their Nov. 9 update, the health department reported 18 active positive cases with 143 test results pending. To date, 2,768 Clay County residents have been tested and of those 2,635 were negative.

The total positive cases so far are 303 with 285 of those recovered. In Clay County Schools, this week there were no positive cases reported, but 59 students and seven teachers were in quarantine, according to the school’s weekly COVID update. That number is an improvement over the previous week when two students tested positive and 51 students and eight staff were quarantined.

There are approximately 1260 students enrolled in the school system. Currently elementary school students attend in-person classes four days a week and older students attend on an alternate two days, supplementing the other days with virtual learning. The holidays have also been affected by COVID-19. Gov. Roy Cooper is urging families that do not live together to limit Thanksgiving gatherings to 10 through Dec. 4. In addition, the Hayesville Christmas Parade has been canceled. It had been scheduled for the town square, Saturday, Dec. 5, but with officials expecting more cases in the winter and limitations on outdoor gatherings, parade organizers decided canceling was the only safe option this year. The parade has been sponsored by the Clay County Progress since 1987.

On Wednesday morning, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported the state’s highest one day number of COVID-19 cases with 3,119 cases reported. Other key metrics also increased with hospitalizations at 1,246 and the percent of tests that were positive climbing to 7.9 percent. COVID-19 is highly contagious, and more than half of North Carolinians are at high risk for serious illness, according to NCDHHS.