Craven County has 620 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of 11:00 a.m. on July 28, 2020. Out of the 620 confirmed positive cases, 493 of those individuals have recovered, are doing well, and are out of isolation. The recovered cases completed the necessary isolation requirement and have been free of COVID-19 symptoms for at least 72 hours.  Of the 620 cases, 12 have been related to out of state travel, 133 are from community transmission, 436 are a direct contact with a previously confirmed positive case, and 39 are still being investigated.  There have been nine deaths related to COVID-19. Six of the active COVID-19 cases are currently hospitalized.  

A ninth Craven County resident died from complications related to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) on July 28, 2020.  The individual was tested for COVID-19 on July 17, 2020 and resulted positive on July 18, 2020.  The death was reported to the Craven County Health Department on July 28, 2020. The individual had several underlying health conditions. To protect the family’s privacy, no further information about the individual will be released.

Craven County citizens are encouraged to use reputable sources of information to learn more about COVID-19 cases in Craven County and North Carolina.  Reputable sources of information include the Craven County Health Department and NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) websites.

The Craven County Health Department works with state, commercial, and private labs to track the number of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in Craven County. Health care providers determine which lab they send their COVID-19 tests to. There are multiple hospital and commercial labs that conduct COVID-19 tests. These labs manage their own supplies and operate independently from the Department of Health and Human Services and the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health.

Craven County will continue to track and post the number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases; however, it is important to recognize there are many people with COVID-19 who will not be included in daily counts of laboratory-confirmed cases, including:

• People who had minimal or no symptoms and were not tested.
• People who had symptoms but did not seek medical care.
• People who sought medical care but were not tested.
• People with COVID-19 in whom the virus was not detected by testing.

The number of laboratory-confirmed cases will increasingly provide a limited picture of the spread of infections in Craven County as COVID-19 becomes more widespread and the number of infected people who are not included in the daily counts of laboratory-confirmed cases increases.