The Alexander County Health Department is experiencing difficulty accessing the website from which they receive local COVID-19 information; therefore, the state dashboard’s numbers will be used for today’s update. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to have more detailed local information tomorrow (Friday, November 20).
Currently, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 dashboard shows that Alexander County has 1,373 total confirmed cases with 13 deaths.
Alexander County was one of 10 counties categorized in the “red/critical” tier of the state’s new COVID-19 County Alert System. According to NCDHHS data, over the past 14 days, there have been 335 confirmed cases in Alexander County with a test positivity of 16.6 percent. Part of the county’s increase is due to a rise in cases at the Alexander Correctional Institution, which now has 180 total confirmed cases with 50 active cases (source: www.ncdps.gov/our-organization/adult-correction/prisons/prisons-info-covid-19#data).
The remainder of the cases stem from community spread (churches, funerals, shopping, dining, family gatherings, etc.), so the county urges citizens to practice the 3 W’s for your protection and the protection of others: wear a mask in public, wait six feet apart, and wash your hands.
With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching and the tradition of extended families gathering together for a meal and fellowship, state and county officials encourage families to consider altering their plans to enjoy the holiday in a safer manner.