County COVID-19 updates
On May 24, Macon County Public Health announced a cluster of cases centered around the Evangelical Ebenezer Church. As of press time on May 26, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services had reported 18 cases in Macon County, up from four cases May 15. One Macon resident died from the disease, reported April 6.
The North Carolina Department of Public Health defines a “cluster” as “a minimum of five cases with illness onsets or initial positive results within a 14-day period and plausible linkage between cases.
Haywood County’s case number also jumped over the past week, increasing from 32 cases on May 20 to 44 on May 26. No county residents have died from the disease, however.
Meanwhile, Jackson County’s case count increased by only two in the past week despite the opening of a new drive-thru testing site at the Walmart in Sylva.
As of May 26, 27 county residents had been diagnosed with the disease, along with two part-time residents and 22 non-residents who were tested by a Jackson County health provider. On May 19, those figures stood at 25 residents, two part-time residents and 22 non-residents. A total of 1,292 tests have been administered in Jackson County, an increase of 147 from May 19. The county has seen one death from COVID-19, announced May 4.
As of May 22, Swain County had 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19, having administered 1,045 total tests. Of those, 983 came back negative and 52 are pending results.
