Brunswick County Public Health reported the county’s first novel coronavirus associated death on Friday evening.

According to a press release, the individual passed away the early Friday morning. The patient was considered a person at high risk for severe illness as they were over the age of 65 and had some underlying medical conditions.

Because of this individual’s lack of travel history or known exposure, this individual potentially contracted the virus by community transmission. Public Health is working to conduct contact tracing to determine those who were in close contact with them. There is one household contact to this individual who is self-quarantining at home.

This individual was not one of the previously identified positive cases in the County. They had taken a test before passing away, which was confirmed as positive today following their passing.