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New, confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Beaufort County numbered 17 on Friday. There are now 227 active cases in the county, 11 people are hospitalized, according to the Friday update from Beaufort County Emergency Services and Beaufort County Health Department.

According to the update, 715 of the 957 total positive cases have recovered from the virus; 17 Beaufort County residents have died — seven of those in the space of six days in mid-August, five between Sept. 10 and Sept. 17, and another two are under investigation.

All active cases are self-isolating, the update reads.

The total number of cases that have been confirmed in the U.S. rose from 6,662,256 Thursday to 6,705,114 Friday; these numbers include 2,540,334 people in the U.S. presumed recovered from COVID-19. The U.S. has the highest total number of cases worldwide; worldwide, there have been 30,306,469 confirmed cases. Nationwide, 198,197 deaths have been attributed to the virus, an increase of 800 overnight.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Carolina continued to rise from 189,576 Thursday to 190,973 Friday. There have been 3,207 deaths in the state attributed to the virus, an increase of 27 overnight. The state currently has 904 COVID-19 associated hospitalizations and 167,257 people are presumed recovered from the virus in North Carolina.

Eastern North Carolina counties total COVID-19 cases as of Friday numbered (does not include number of recovered): Bertie (530), Beaufort (957), Bladen (810), Brunswick (1,511), Carteret (604), Camden (107), Chowan (299), Columbus (1,300), Craven (1,229), Currituck (146); Dare (257), Duplin (2,131), Edgecombe (1,235), Gates (118), Greene (498), Halifax (950), Hertford (667), Hyde (124), Jones (143), Lenoir (930), Martin (412), New Hanover (3,830), Northampton (399), Onslow (1,794), Pamlico (227), Pasquotank (647), Pender (871), Perquimans (168), Pitt (4,466), Sampson (1,747), Tyrrell (111), Washington (199), Wayne (3,106) and Wilson (2,023). Durham (7,995), Mecklenburg (27,346) and Wake (16,745) counties have the most cases in North Carolina.

There had been 14,766 tests completed in Beaufort County as of Friday, with 13,706 negatives, 948 positives and 112 pending. These are cumulative numbers and include tests performed at the health department and reporting private medical facilities through the county. Nine of Beaufort County’s cases were tested in other counties but are Beaufort County residents.

“There were 1,141 tests completed by reporting agencies in Beaufort County last week; 8.5% of those tests were found to be positive,” the Friday update reads. Outbreaks in long-term care facilities were found to be a heavy influence on the positivity rates experience over that time period, it says.

The update reminded county residents to “practice the Three W’s:” wear face coverings, wait six feet apart and wash your hands often.