LUMBERTON — The positive trends seen recently in Robeson County’s coronavirus numbers continued for another week, with numbers at a level not seen in nearly five months.

The Robeson County Health Department reported 199 new confirmed cases between Feb. 20 and Friday, marking the first seven-day period with less than 200 cases since the period of Sept. 26 through Oct. 2.

The new numbers bring to 15,480 the number of coronavirus cases recorded in Robeson County since the pandemic began.

Three virus-related deaths were reported between Feb. 20 and Friday, with no deaths since Wednesday. The county’s pandemic death toll is now 218.

As of noon Friday, 13,250 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Robeson County, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. This number represents about one out of every 10 Robeson County residents. There have been 8,231 second doses administered.

Of these, 7,752 first doses and 4,955 second doses were administered by UNC Health Southeastern, as of 11 a.m. Friday.

The vaccine currently is available for administration to the appropriate groups in Robeson County, Health Department Director Bill Smith said. This includes school and child-care personnel, who were declared eligible to be given the vaccine on Wednesday.

With the inclusion of that additional group, which is Group 3A in the state’s vaccine rollout, the Health Department will offer a vaccine clinic 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

With Robeson County trending positively, the county was classified yellow, for significant community spread, on Tuesday in the state’s County Alert System. The classification is indicative of the reduction in cases, hospitalizations and the positivity rate. Robeson County had been in the red category since Nov. 23.

Statewide, there are 27 red counties, including Hoke, Scotland and Cumberland; 40 orange counties, for substantial community spread, including Columbus County; and 33 yellow counties, including Bladen County.

UNC Health Southeastern had 13 virus-positive patients in isolation at its hospital as of 11 a.m. Friday, down from 14 on Feb. 19. Eleven is the lowest mark since Aug. 21. No additional potential positives are under investigation. Four employees are quarantined because of potential exposure.

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke reported four active cases among its student body and two active cases among faculty and staff as of 5 p.m. Friday. There were no active cases among subcontractors.

For the spring semester, there have been 31 student cases, 23 among faculty and staff, and five among subcontractors.

Statewide, there were 19,255 cases reported between Feb. 20 and noon Friday, according to the NCDHHS. This is a drop from the 22,056 cases reported for the period Feb. 13-19 and the 40,890 reported between Jan. 30 and Feb. 5. This brings the pandemic total to 855,905 cases.

There were 366 virus-related deaths reported in the state between Feb. 20 and Friday, down from 444 reported during the period Feb. 13-19. The state’s total pandemic death toll is 11,186.

There were 1,465 virus-related hospitalizations in the state as of noon Friday, down from 1,780 on Feb. 19 and the lowest number since Nov. 13.

The United States surpassed 500,000 virus-related deaths earlier this week.

In other virus-related news, NCDHHS will virtually present two Vaccine 101 training sessions on Wednesday to provide rural North Carolina community members with accurate and timely information about the COVID-19 vaccine, address vaccine hesitancy and help slow the spread of the virus.

This training will help communicate the safety and effectiveness of approved COVID-19 vaccines and help individuals find their spot to take their shot. The sessions will allow time for a question-and-answer session and will focus on addressing the unique challenges facing rural communities.

Anyone interested in taking part in the sessions can register at https://foundationhli.org/nc-rural-coalition-fighting-covid-19.

A morning session will be held 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and an evening session from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.