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Beaufort County reported its 69th COVID-19-related death Friday, as well as 79 new cases and 22 recoveries.

County health officials know of 855 active cases among Beaufort County residents. Eighteen of those individuals are hospitalized. None of them are on ventilators.

North Carolina reported 10,038 cases of COVID-19 and 115 coronavirus-related deaths Friday.

Eastern North Carolina counties with total confirmed cases include: Bertie, (1,317), Beaufort (3,182),  Bladen (2,073), Brunswick (5,018), Carteret (3,050), Camden (351), Chowan (924), Columbus (4,136), Craven (5,724), Currituck (764), Dare (1,241), Duplin (4,551), Edgecombe (3,455), Gates (410), Greene (1,640), Halifax (3,269), Hertford (1,500),  Hyde (439), Jones (453), Lenoir (3,697), Martin (1,584), New Hanover (10,504), Northampton (1,168), Onslow (10,108), Pamlico (590), Pasquotank (2,069), Pender  (3,148), Perquimans (611), Pitt (12,791) Sampson (5,285), Tyrrell (194), Washington  (540), Wayne (7,943) and Wilson (6,138). Mecklenburg (69,101), Wake (49,110), Guilford (27,415), Forsyth (22,527), Gaston (17,439) and Durham (16,057) counties have the most cases.

VACCINE UPDATE 

Vaccinations are set to begin next week for the first group in Phase 1b of Beaufort County Health Department’s vaccination plan. Everyone ages 75 and up is included in that group. Vaccines are currently given on an appointment-only basis, and all appointment slots in January have been filled. The department anticipates that appointment scheduling will resume Jan. 25.

“Many of you have scheduled an appointment using our call center or web link,” a health department press release reads. “We are asking everyone that you report to the vaccine location that you registered for at the designated time appointed. PLEASE refrain from calling the Health Department or other County offices in an attempt to confirm your appointment. All Health Department staff and County staff are diligently
committed to our county’s COVID-19 response.”

“We know there is an extremely large number of people who want the COVID-19 vaccine. As we
have mentioned, vaccine is very limited at this time and we are doing the best we can to get as
many people who want the vaccine vaccinated as quickly as possible.”