Craven County has 3,986 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of 11:00 a.m. on December 16, 2020. Out of the 3,986 confirmed positive cases, 3,268 of those individuals have recovered or are presumed recovered based on guidelines set by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Of the 3,986 cases, 37 have been related to out of state travel, 825 are from community transmission, 2,231 are a direct contact with a previously confirmed positive case, 495 are still being investigated, and 398 are unknown. There have been 80 deaths related to COVID-19. Fourteen 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 seventy-ninth Craven County resident died on December 11, 2020. The individual was tested for COVID-19 on December 6, 2020 and resulted positive on December 7, 2020. The death was reported to the Craven County Health Department on December 15, 2020.  The eightieth Craven County resident died on December 15, 2020. The individual was tested for COVID-19 on December 3, 2020 and resulted positive on December 7, 2020. The death was reported to the Craven County Health Department on December 16, 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.