SALISBURY — State health officials on Wednesday reported one new death as a result of COVID-19 in Rowan County, bringing the county’s total to 306 since the start of the pandemic.

With death No. 306, Rowan County remains in the top seven counties in the state for deaths reported. The top six counties are Mecklenburg (959), Wake (723), Guilford (707), Gaston (431), Forsyth (377) and Buncombe (315), according to data from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. 

The county’s most recent death comes in the week following Gov. Roy Cooper’s decision to lift the state’s mask indoor mandate and remove most gathering restrictions. Cooper eased restrictions after the Centers for Disease Control advised that fully vaccinated people could return to their pre-pandemic routines. While many local businesses have responded by no longer requiring customers or employees to wear masks, some larger chain restaurants, retailers and grocery stores have kept their mask and social distancing rules in place for the time being.

Although the vaccination rollout has continued to slow across the state, a new, younger group of North Carolinians became eligible last week when the Pfizer vaccine was approved for people aged 12-15. In Rowan County, 135 people aged 12-17 were vaccinated last week compared to only 21 the week prior. The percentage of the county’s population that has received at least one dose increased in those aged 12-17 from 3% to 5% last week. 

In other COVID-19 data:

• State data shows 40,606 people in Rowan County have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 36,120 people are considered fully vaccinated. The state’s data does not include the thousands of Rowan Countians who have been vaccinated at the Salisbury VA, which would indicate that more than 30% of the county’s population is vaccinated.

• After declining for several days, the number of COVID-19 tests completed across the state increased on Tuesday. There were 18,517 molecular (PCR) tests completed, which was 8,132 more than the 10,385 tests completed on Monday.

• There was an increase on Tuesday in the number of people hospitalized in the Triad Healthcare Preparedness Coalition, the nearly 20-county region to which Rowan County belongs. With 97% of hospitals reporting, there were 207 people hospitalized on Tuesday compared to 184 hospitalized on Monday. The number of people hospitalized across the state stayed at 820 for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday. 

• The number of first doses administered in North Carolina increased slightly last week. There were 95,280 first doses administered, up from 77,355 administered the week starting on May 3. There are currently 4.3 million people vaccinated with at least one does in the state.

• There have been 220 COVID-19 cases in Rowan County in the last two weeks, including 85 in the last seven days.