NC Coronavirus Totals: 6,140 Confirmed Cases, 164 Deaths

NORTH CAROLINA — The North Carolina Health Department on Saturday reported 12 more coronavirus deaths and 281 new cases, bringing the state's death toll to 164 and the total number of cases to 6,140.

Heath officials say they expect the numbers to go up as more tests become available.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and has since infected more than 2,273,900 people and killed more than 156,000 around the world, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

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North Carolina reported its first coronavirus case on March 3. As of Saturday morning, 76,211 people have been tested for the disease and 388 have been hospitalized.

Compared to the state's other jurisdictions, Mecklenburg County has the highest number of confirmed cases. The total: 1,153.

Second on the list is Wake County, with 579 positive infections.

As of Saturday morning, no cases have been reported in Graham, Swain, Madison, Yancey, Avery, Hyde, and Camden counties.

Testing plays a critical role in determining the path forward for the state, but is currently being hampered by a lack of assistance from the federal level, he added.

"The President has left the responsibility to me as Governor to make decisions about how and when we ease restrictions in our state. I accept that," Gov. Roy Cooper said. "But when we're faced with global supply chain breakdowns when it comes to supplies and equipment, the federal government must help more."

Cooper is facing mounting pressure from the state's small business community to relax restrictions and reopen the state. Earlier this week, more than 100 protesters rallied in Raleigh, honking car horns and calling the current stay-at-home executive order unconstitutional.

The Democrat has said restrictions would relax once the state trends start to go down, adding that officials were looking a number of options, including possibly easing restrictions in certain regions of the state. Earlier this week, Cooper said decisions regarding new social distancing executive orders for the state will be made at the end of April, and that his intention is to reopen the state's economy incrementally based on progress in COVID-19 testing, tracing, and seeing overall trends move in the right direction.

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