North Carolinians have been experiencing the COVID-19 outbreak for months, with nearly all residents seeing the virus impact how the live their daily lives. But before Tuesday, the coronavirus had not been reported in every county.

Avery County, in the northwest region of the state bordering Tennessee, was the final county to have not recorded a positive test for the coronavirus, despite the local health department administering several. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services shared on Tuesday afternoon the county has officially recorded its first positive test.

The news comes 77 days after the first reported case in the state, which was a Wake County resident. Since then, the state health department has reported 19,700 lab-confirmed cases and more than 690 confirmed deaths from the coronavirus. As of Monday, health official estimate approximately 11,637 of those cases have recovered from the illness, a new metric the department is releasing to the public weekly.

There has also been increased testing across North Carolina in the past few weeks, a rate which led Governor Roy Cooper to alter his stay at home order to begin the state’s initial phase of gradual reopening. NCDHHS said Tuesday more than 265,000 have been administered, with results from as late as April 28 still pending. The pace is expected to grow further, as more and more free collection sites are established around the state. Health officials also recently expressed plans to prioritize testing for higher-risk individuals even when they show no symptoms.

To follow the latest case and testing totals of the COVID-19 pandemic in North Carolina, visit Chapelboro’s Coronavirus Tracker web page.

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