The total number of COVID-19 deaths in Gaston County reached 342 on Friday but there s signs of positive trends in the data.
An additional 17 virus related deaths were reported between Jan. 22-29, an average of more than 2.4 deaths per day over that period.
A total of 241 people have died due to the virus over the past 15 weeks, or an average of nearly 2.3 deaths per day since Oct. 15.
Approximately 900 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Gaston County over the past week, growing to more than 21,100 since March 2020.
There have been signs of improvement in January, however. After weeks with the number of hospitalizations remaining above 100, that number fell to just 57 hospitalizations by Friday, with just three people on a ventilator.