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The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Carolina continued to rise from 2,448 on Saturday to 2,646 on Sunday. There have been 37 deaths in the state attributed to the virus and 261 hospitalizations.

In Beaufort County, there were nine confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. Five of the nine confirmed cases have recovered from COVID-19. Four cases remain active, according to the Saturday update from Beaufort County’s Office of Emergency Services.

The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. rose from 301,902 on Saturday to 331,151 on Sunday; these numbers include the 16,826 people in the U.S. known to have recovered from COVID-19. The U.S. has the greatest number of cases worldwide, and there are likely many more cases as those exhibiting symptoms are now being encouraged to stay home rather than get tested. Nationwide, 9,441 deaths have been attributed to the virus, an increase of 1,266 overnight. Five percent of all active cases are considered serious, requiring hospitalization, down from 19% in February, 11% of all U.S. cases have been considered serious, requiring hospitalization.

North Carolina has confirmed cases in 91 counties.

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

• one case has been contributed to direct contact with a known patient from another county;
• one case was related to travel to a known outbreak area;
• five cases are attributed to community spread;
• two cases are still under investigation.

All active cases are self-isolating, the update reads. Four of the cases are currently active; three of which are hospitalized.

Eastern North Carolina counties with current cases include: Bertie (7), Beaufort (9), Bladen (1), Brunswick (24), Carteret (16), Camden (1), Chowan (1), Columbus (8), Craven (15), Currituck (2); Dare (6), Duplin (5), Edgecombe (5), Gates (1), Greene (6), Halifax (10), Hertford (4), Lenoir (7), Martin (3), New Hanover (44), Northampton (42), Onslow (17), Pamlico (3), Pasquotank (8), Pender (1), Perquimans (2), Pitt (36), Sampson (2), Washington (3), Wayne (15) and Wilson (28). Durham (181), Mecklenburg (635) and Wake (283) counties have the most cases.

As of Saturday, there have been 118 tests completed in Beaufort County to date, with 92 negatives, seven positives and 19 pending. These are cumulative numbers and include tests performed at the Health Department and reporting private medical facilities throughout the county. Two of Beaufort County’s positive cases were tested in other counties, according to the update from Chris Newkirk, deputy director of Beaufort County Emergency Services.

“The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations has released its projections for COVID-19. Their data includes estimates of needs (i.e. hospital beds, ICU beds, ventilators) as well as peak cases for U.S. and state-by-state. North Carolina is projected to peak on April 22. There has been improvement in resources and deaths per day since the ‘Stay at Home’ order was updated. You can view this information by using the following link: covid19.healthdata.org/projections (this may not work well in Internet Explorer). Use the drop down arrow next to ‘United States of America’ to view this data at a state level,” the update reads.