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The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Carolina continued to rise from 12,445 on Tuesday to 12,883 on Wednesday. There have been 485 deaths in the state attributed to the virus, an increase of 22 overnight. There are currently 516 COVID-19 associated hospitalizations. According to Beaufort County Health Department Director Jim Madson, five of those hospitalizations have been Beaufort County COVID-19 cases; two of those cases have been on ventilators.

In Beaufort County, there were 22 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. All of the 22 confirmed cases have recovered from COVID-19. No cases remain active for the first time since late March.

Five of Beaufort County’s positive cases were asymptomatic, meaning they experienced no symptoms.

The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. rose from 1,199,238 on Tuesday to 1,216,739 on Wednesday; these numbers include the 189,791 people in the U.S. known to have recovered from COVID-19. The U.S. has the highest number of cases worldwide; worldwide, there have been 3,724,688 positive cases. Nationwide, 72,233 deaths have been attributed to the virus, an increase of 1,961 overnight.

North Carolina has confirmed cases in 99 counties.

Of Beaufort County’s total of 22 cases, contact tracing of these known, confirmed cases has concluded:

• seven cases have been attributed to direct contact with a known patient from another county;
• two cases were related to travel to a known outbreak area;
• 13 cases are attributed to community spread.

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

Eastern North Carolina counties with current cases include: Bertie (53), Beaufort (22), Bladen (40), Brunswick (50), Carteret (29), Camden (2), Chowan (7), Columbus (177), Craven (44), Currituck (5); Dare (18), Duplin (146), Edgecombe (128), Gates (10), Greene (22), Halifax (73), Hertford (46), Hyde (1), Jones (19), Lenoir (95), Martin (25), New Hanover (97), Northampton (93), Onslow (52), Pamlico (8), Pasquotank (38), Pender (19), Perquimans (14), Pitt (145), Sampson (108), Tyrrell (4), Washington (25), Wayne (688) and Wilson (186). Durham (800), Mecklenburg (1,850) and Wake (937) counties have the most cases in North Carolina.

There have been 390 tests completed in Beaufort County as of Tuesday, with 356 negatives, 19 positives and 15 pending. These are cumulative numbers and include tests performed at the health department and reporting private medical facilities through the county.

The CDC last week updated its list of possible symptoms of COVID-19, in addition to cough, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing and fever, to include chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell.