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County adds 29 new cases; county adds 1 more death, 2 more hospitalizations

POLK COUNTY—Polk County’s COVID-19 cases remained low this week with the county adding another 29 cases. 

Last week the county added 31 cases and the week prior the county added 24 cases, but in the last couple of months the county has seen as high as 101 cases in 1 week. 

The Polk County Department of Health and Human Services released its weekly COVID-19 update Friday, with the county having a 4.4 percent positive rate, which is down from last week’s 6.1 percent. 

The county has now had a total of 2,275 cases of COVID-19 since March 2020. 

As of Friday, there have been 44 Polk County residents who have died from the virus and 91 people who have been hospitalized. That compared to 43 residents who had died as of last week and 89 people who had been hospitalized, according to the latest data. 

The county’s percent of its population that is vaccinated remained at 43 percent. 

As of Friday, 9,450 Polk County residents had at least 1 dose of the vaccine and 8,951 Polk County residents are fully vaccinated. 

Polk County’s positive cases overall have been mostly in females at 53.1 percent this week. 

The most cases have been in people age 25-49, followed by people age 50-64. The county now has as many cases in people age 0-17 as people age 65-74. The least cases have been in people age 75 and above and 18-24. 

Vaccines are free for anyone and are now being administered to everyone age 12 and older in North Carolina. 

Booster shots are now also available to many qualified people. 

To schedule an appointment with the county people can call the Polk County COVID message line at 828-722-5086. More information is also available on a special COVID-19 tab located at polknc.org. 

Local pharmacies are also now giving vaccines for the virus as well as for flu and pneumonia.