City of Whiteville issued the following announcement on March 26.
No cases of the coronavirus had been confirmed in Columbus County by Wednesday afternoon, but public health officials had no doubt that the virus was in the county.
“I’m sure it’s in Columbus County. We’ve just not come across anyone who is positive yet,” said Columbus County Public Health Director Kim Smith.
Smith said she met with her public health nurse, communicable disease nurse and public health educator to discuss why no cases had been confirmed here. The group believes it may be due to geography.
“We are just not as densely populated as some of the other counties,” Smith said, noting that neighboring Bladen County had not reported a confirmed case either. “We’ve just not come upon the right person yet to test. Maybe that is because they are self isolating and taking care of themselves at home.”
Smith said on Wednesday that her office had been notified of 80 tests conducted in the county, and 37 returned negative. Results were pending on the other tests.
North Carolina Health and Human Services Covid-19 information and map of cases by County.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up