NC reports COVID-19 cluster in southeastern county due to low vaccination rates
North Carolina reported an ongoing COVID-19 cluster Friday in just one ZIP code of Bladen County, where just 33% of the population is fully vaccinated.
The statewide vaccination rate is 42%.
“What’s happening in Bladen County is preventable,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, in a press release. “More than 99% of new COVID-19 cases in North Carolina are in people who are not fully vaccinated. Vaccines are working.”
Sixty percent of the new cases reported in Bladen County in the past three weeks are in just one ZIP code, which covers the town of Bladenboro. The town has a population of about 1,600, according to a Census Bureau estimate.
And the cases are mostly found in younger people — 64% of the cases are in those age 49 and below.
Dr. David Wohl, who studies infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, said in an interview that lower vaccination rates among younger people are making them more vulnerable to the virus.
“Older people are overwhelmingly vaccinated,” Wohl said.
Statewide, 79% of people age 65 and older are vaccinated. Factoring in those age 12 and up, the rate goes down to 49%.
In its color-coded COVID-19 county alert system that is updated every two weeks, DHHS reported Bladen County as its sole red county, indicating the worst spread of the disease in the state.
DHHS determines the ranking of a county by assessing the new case rate, the percentage of tests that are positive and the impact on the county’s hospitals.
Terri Duncan, Bladen County health director, said in a press release that the county is focused on increasing the vaccination rate.
“[The vaccine] will help prevent more people in our county from dying from this disease. If you haven’t gotten your shot yet, now is the time,” Duncan said in the press release.
It’s unclear if the cluster in Bladenboro is due to the delta variant, as the latest available data goes to the three-week period before May 22, when 0.7% of cases were from the delta variant.
The delta variant is more transmissible and possibly more deadly, especially among unvaccinated people, The News & Observer reported.
The currently available COVID-19 vaccines protect against the delta variant, health officials have said.