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The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Carolina continued to rise from 10,107 Wednesday to 10,731 on Thursday. There have been 403 deaths in the state attributed to the virus, an increase of 24 overnight. There are currently 546 COVID-19 associated hospitalizations. According to Beaufort County Health Department Director Jim Madson, four of those hospitalizations have been Beaufort County COVID-19 cases.

In Beaufort County, there were 22 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. Fifteen of the 22 confirmed cases have recovered from COVID-19. Seven cases remain active, none of which are hospitalized.

Five of Beaufort County’s positive cases were asymptomatic, meaning they experienced no symptoms, according to the Thursday update from Beaufort County’s Office of Emergency Services and Beaufort County Health Department.

The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. rose from 1,034,884 on Wednesday to 1,067,061 on Thursday; these numbers include the 125,949 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 3,271,892 positive cases. Nationwide, 62,860 deaths have been attributed to the virus, an increase of 2,653 overnight.

North Carolina has confirmed cases in 98 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 (44), Beaufort (22), Bladen (31), Brunswick (43), Carteret (28), Camden (1), Chowan (7), Columbus (153), Craven (40), Currituck (5); Dare (15), Duplin (92), Edgecombe (94), Gates (7), Greene (16), Halifax (58), Hertford (37), Hyde (1), Jones (14), Lenoir (67), Martin (16), New Hanover (79), Northampton (86), Onslow (45), Pamlico (7), Pasquotank (36), Pender (13), Perquimans (13), Pitt (123), Sampson (63), Tyrrell (4), Washington (24), Wayne (655) and Wilson (159). Durham (728), Mecklenburg (1,627) and Wake (821) counties have the most cases in North Carolina.

There have been 296 tests completed in Beaufort County as of Thursday, with 268 negatives, 19 positives and nine pending. These are cumulative numbers and include tests performed at the health department and reporting private medical facilities through the county.

The CDC this 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.