LUMBERTON — For the third straight week, the number of new COVID-19 cases in Robeson County has set a record.

During the seven-day period from Jan. 18 through Monday, 3,525 new cases were reported by the Robeson County Health Department. This is a 900-case increase from the 2,625 cases reported from Jan. 11-17.

The number of virus-related deaths in the county also spiked in the last seven days, with 12 reported by the Health Department between Jan. 18 and Monday, up from three between Jan. 11-17. There have now been 469 total virus-related deaths in Robeson County.

Even as the number of new cases represents a 34% increase from the previous one-week record, county Health Department Director Bill Smith says there are likely more virus cases that are not included in that count.

“Some of the test vendors are not supplying required reports in a timely fashion, thus the week’s tally does not necessarily match the testing period,” Smith said. “Many complaints have been received about people testing and not getting results after a week. This is between the testing facility and the person being tested – the sites are largely unregulated. We have 500 antigen reports that are backlogged because they must be hand entered into the system. This will reflect on next week’s report.”

The county’s testing positivity rate was 35.2% over the last 14 days, seven times the stated 5% goal. About one-third of all positive tests were to children age 17 and under, Smith said.

Even with the statistics being incomplete, approximately 1 in 33 Robeson County residents has tested positive for COVID-19 in since Jan. 18. There have been 9,159 new cases reported since Christmas as the omicron variant surge has taken place in the county, state and nationally; this accounts for approximately 1 in every 12.5 Robeson County residents.

“That means that out of 22 months of testing, over one-quarter of the positives are in this last month alone,” Smith said. “Immunity wanes so having had the virus before is not a good argument for not getting vaccinated. Being up to date for vaccinations includes a booster if five months have passed since the primary series was completed (with the exception of J&J which is two months).”

There have been 59,497 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in Robeson County as of Tuesday, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services statistics, or 46% of the county’s population; 53,296 second doses have been competed, or 41%. There have been 18,292 booster shots administered in the county.

“Only 8% of the 5 to 11 year old children have received one dose (of the vaccine) and 31% of the children between 12 and 17 have been vaccinated with at least one dose,” Smith said. “Certainly being vaccinated does not prevent a person from acquiring the virus but it does protect a person from severe illness. This is illustrated in the latest numbers that have 73% of all hospitalizations that are COVID related are to unvaccinated individuals; ICU occupancy jumps even higher with 85% of them being unvaccinated people.”

Locally, UNC Health Southeastern reports 42 virus-positive individuals in isolation at its medical center as of Monday; 29 of these individuals are unvaccinated. Three virus-positive individuals are in the intensive care unit and two are on ventilators; all ICU and ventilator patients are unvaccinated, the organization said.

After the spring semester started for students last week, cases have spiked at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. The university reported 41 active cases among its student body on campus, with 24 among faculty and staff and six among subcontractors, as of late Monday. Some 50 new student cases, 33 new faculty and staff cases and seven new subcontractor cases have been reported in the last week.

Spring semester case totals are now 83 student body cases, 70 among faculty and staff and 14 among subcontractors.

Statewide, the number of new cases dropped by 23%; 172,793 new cases were reported by NCDHHS between Jan. 19 and Tuesday, down from 225,138 between Jan. 12-18. There have now been 2,303,196 total cases in the state over the course of the pandemic.

There were 335 virus-related deaths reported in the state from Jan. 19 through Tuesday, up from 294 between Jan. 12-18. The state’s pandemic death toll is now 20,335.

NCDHHS reported 5,055 virus-related hospitalizations in the state as of Tuesday, a new pandemic record. This is up from 4,630 virus-related hospitalizations on Jan. 18.

There have been 6,218,768 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in North Carolina as of Tuesday, NCDHHS said, or 64% of the population; 5,782,129 second doses have been administered, of 60% of the population.

There have been 2,884,536 booster shots administered in the state; this is 46% of the vaccinated population.