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Beaufort County ended 2020 on a concerning note with a record-high 98 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Thursday.

Thursday’s update from Beaufort County Office of Emergency Services and Beaufort County Health Department raised the county’s number of known active cases to 482. Its total case count is now 2,621. Twelve county residents are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

The update showed that 54 more Beaufort County residents have recovered from COVID-19, raising the total amount of recoveries to 2,077.

Prior to this week, Beaufort County’s record for a single-day case count was 57, set on Sept. 10. The number of new cases surged following last week’s holiday festivities. After recording seven new cases Monday, the county logged 74 new cases and three confirmed COVID-19-related deaths Tuesday and 83 more new cases Wednesday.

North Carolina reported 8,551 new cases of COVID-19 and 155 COVID-19-related deaths Thursday.