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The Stanly County Health Department reported 543 new cases this week, down from the 1,355 recorded last week. This marks the second consecutive week the county has seen decrease in new Covid cases.

The week’s tally is the fewest number of new cases since the end of December, when 305 new cases were reported.

With the addition of this week’s cases, there have been more than 18,600 Covid cases since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The county's percent positive rate fell to 34 percent from 38 percent last week. The state's positivity rate is much lower, at 22 percent.

There were approximately 1,410 active cases identified this week within the county, a 40 percent decrease from the roughly 2,800 active cases last week.

Hospitalizations have decreased after reaching record levels last week. There are 37 people hospitalized, down from last week's record high of 49.

There were eight deaths this week as of Friday, bringing the cumulative tally to 253. So far this year, 31 people have died from Covid.

The state reported 12,385 new cases on Friday, a 65 percent decrease from two weeks ago, when more than 35,000 cases were tallied. Hospitalizations have also started to decrease as 4,490 people were in the hospital on Thursday, down from the record of 5,206 just a few days ago on Jan. 26.