Craven County has 1,562 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of 2:00 p.m. on September 28, 2020. Of the newest cases, 17 additional cases were confirmed on September 25, 2020, 17 on September 26, 2020, and five on September 27, 2020. Out of the 1,562 confirmed positive cases, 1,402 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 24 hours. Over the past five days, the Communicable Disease staff at the Craven County Health Department has recovered over 250 individuals. These recoveries are a result of the large number of new cases that were confirmed at the beginning of September. Of the 1,562 cases, 19 have been related to out of state travel, 288 are from community transmission, 1,081 are a direct contact with a previously confirmed positive case, 84 are still being investigated, and 90 are unknown. There have been 36 deaths related to COVID-19. Twelve 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 thirty-fifth Craven County resident died on September 25, 2020. The individual was tested for COVID-19 on September 1, 2020 and resulted positive on September 3, 2020. The death was reported to the Craven County Health Department on September 28, 2020. The thirty-sixth Craven County resident died on September 26, 2020. The individual was tested on September 22, 2020 and resulted positive the same day. The death was reported to the Craven County Health Department on September 27, 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.