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Officials announced its 11^th, 12^th case this week

POLK COUNTY—Polk County officials announced it has its 12^th case of Coronavirus on Thursday after announcing its 11^th case Wednesday.

Polk County went all last week with no confirmed cases and added its 10^th on Monday, its 11^th on Wednesday and its 12^th on Thursday. A 13^th was reported by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Friday morning, but Polk County officials said the county’s count was still at 12..

North Carolina now has 8,052 confirmed cases as of Friday morning. On Wednesday, the state had 7,220 confirmed cases, which grew by almost 500 since Monday, according to the NCDHHS. On Monday, the state had 6,764 laboratory-confirmed cases and 179 deaths. Wednesday afternoon, the state had 242 deaths.

By Friday, there were 269 deaths in North Carolina.

There are no deaths from COVID-19 confirmed in Polk County.

North Carolina has completed 100,584 tests, with 477 people currently hospitalized from the virus. The virus has been confirmed in 93 of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

As of Friday, Buncombe County had 49 cases and 3 deaths; Henderson County had 147 cases and 14 deaths; Rutherford County had 105 cases and 4 deaths and Transylvania County had 7 cases and zero deaths, according to the NCDHHS.

Polk County set up drive through testing at the former jail in Columbus, with testing beginning on Thursday. Anyone with symptoms such as a fever, cough and shortness of breath should first call 828-722-5086 or their primary health care provider to confirm they would qualify for the expanded testing and to schedule an appointment.