Craven County has 4,135 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of 12:00 p.m. on December 17, 2020. Out of the 4,135 confirmed positive cases, 3,333 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 4,135 cases, 37 have been related to out of state travel, 832 are from community transmission, 2,292 are a direct contact with a previously confirmed positive case, 576 are still being investigated, and 398 are unknown. There have been 80 deaths related to COVID-19. Twenty of the active COVID-19 cases are currently hospitalized.  

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.