Craven County has 829 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of 12:00 p.m. on August 17, 2020. Of the newest cases, 11 additional cases were confirmed in the afternoon on August 14, 2020, two on August 15, 2020, two on August 16, 2020 and seven today. Out of the 829 confirmed positive cases, 621 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 829 cases, 12 have been related to out of state travel, 160 are from community transmission, 573 are a direct contact with a previously confirmed positive case, and 84 are still being investigated.  There have been 20 deaths related to COVID-19. Eleven of the active COVID-19 cases are currently hospitalized.  

Two additional Craven County residents have died from complications related to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The nineteenth Craven County resident died on August 7, 2020. The individual was tested for COVID-19 on July 28, 2020 and resulted positive on August 11, 2020. The death was reported to the Craven County Health Department on August 14, 2020. The twentieth Craven County resident died on August 17, 2020. The individual was tested on August 12, 2020 and resulted positive on August 13, 2020. The death was reported to the Craven County Health Department on August 17, 2020. Both individuals had underlying health conditions. To protect the privacy of each individual’s family, no further information about the individuals 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.

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.