WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency Tuesday after five people tested positive for coronavirus Monday.
Those five presumptive positive tests brings the statewide total to seven cases. Cooper said all five cases were related to a conference in Boston in February and officials anticipate more positive results linked to the conference.
"Right now, we have enough supplies to test 300 more people," Cooper said. "We are doing everything we can to get more supplies and more tests for North Carolinians."
Cooper said private labs across the state are already testing on another mechanism that does not rely on those supplies.
N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said all five new patients are from Wake County and each traveled to Boston in late February to attend a conference. Their tests are being sent to federal authorities for final confirmation. The department said in a statement Monday that several cases of COVID-19 across the country have been linked to the conference.
The first two cases reported in the state were out of Wake County and Chatham County. The person from Wake County contracted the virus after traveling to Washington State. The person from Chatham County contracted the virus after traveling to Italy. Those cases are not related to the latest five.
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