Find the latest COVID-19 case count in North Carolina here.

(3/12) 10:30 pm) - Southwestern Community College will extend its spring break through March 22nd for all in-person classes, following in the footsteps of other community colleges in North Carolina. Regularly scheduled online classes will resume on Monday.

Following Major League Baseball's decision Thursday to suspend spring training and delay the start of its season, Minor League Baseball will also delay the start of its season. That means the Asheville Tourists will not start play on April 9th. Their first home game was scheduled for April 16th.

Other event postponements announced Thursday include next weekend's Get In Gear Festival in Asheville at Salvage Station. Organizers hope to reschedule it for later in the year. Comedian Jeff Dunham's show at Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville on March 21st has been moved to July 9th. And the Center For Cultural Preservation's Appalachian Storytelling event will now be live streamed. Only those who purchased tickets for the show will be able to watch the live stream.

(3/12 5:40pm) The COVID-19 outbreak has compelled the Asheville Symphony to cancel three public events over the coming weeks for the season. The orchestra won’t reschedule a March 17 charity event an Asheville wine bar and concerts March 21 and April 4 at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. Masterworks Series concerts April 18-19 are still on the orchestra’s calendar.

(3/12 5 pm )AB Tech Community College has announced it will extend spring break by one week and move to online and virtual instruction immediately afterward where possible. Spring break is scheduled from March 16-20 and will be extended through Friday, March 27. Classes will resume online and virtually on Monday, March 30. The college says it will then reassess instruction delivery on a weekly basis based on guidance from Buncombe County public health officials.



(3/12 4:45 pm) North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is urging the postponement of gatherings over 100 people after "multiple new cases" statewide Thursday. Governor Cooper was joined by state leaders who urged the enhanced guidelines. Starting Friday, Cooper is asking businesses to allow eligible employees to work from home while also urging anyone sick to stay home. "North Carolina has more tough decisions ahead, and we will be ready to make them. We have the benefit of learning from other countries and other states about the best ways to fight this pandemic,” said Governor Cooper. “We know that if we can slow the spread of this virus now, then fewer people will be infected or become seriously ill. And we can be more effective in avoiding an overload of our medical system. It will save lives.”

(3/12 4:30pm) Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva says it has not treated any patients with coronavirus(COVID-19) at the hospital to date. It is taking the following measures to prepare, in accordance with CDC guidelines:

Patients in the Emergency Department and inpatient units are screened based on their recent travel history.

Personal protective equipment is available, including face masks and eye protection

Hand hygiene products are easily accessible throughout the facility.

(3/12 3 p.m.) Buncombe County is declaring a state of emergency. At the weekly COVID-19 media briefing County Commissioner Brownie Newman read the resolution and told reporters the declaration makes the county and municipalities eligible for state and federal funding and allows all units of local government to work together in a coordinated fashion.

“We think it's very important to just send a clear message to our community that this is a serious public health concern,” Newman told reporters, “but that there are practical and effective steps that we can all take as individuals, families, businesses, local government and organizations that can reduce the spread of coronavirus.”

(3/12 2:30 p.m.) Warren Wilson College will suspend in-person classes starting tomorrow. All classes will go online or be held through other methods starting Tuesday until April 10th at the earliest. The campus will remain open, though the Bryson and Devries gyms will close and all school and campus events through April 10th will either be canceled or postponed.

(3/12 1 p.m.) Macon County Health Department has announced that supplies at the department such as masks and other personal protective equipment are limited to health workers that are responding to COVID-19 and for other communicable disease response. They are not able to provide masks and other personal protective equipment to the general public currently.

(3/12 12:30 p.m.) Asheville's Connect Beyond Festival is the first major event in the city to be axed due to COVID-19. Other events are being canceled or postponed too, including tonight's public meeting on the U.S. Forest Service's Nantahala and Pisgah forest plan that was to be held at the North Carolina Arboretum.

Southwestern Community College has canceled a job fair scheduled for March 17th on its campus. UNC Asheville announced Wednesday it was canceling or postponing all events with visting speakers and any gathering with more than 50 people for the time being. No cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Western North Carolina, though the statewide count went up to 12 Wendesday morning. The newest cases are in Forsyth and Johnston Counties, following earlier confirmed cases in Wake and Chatham Counties.

Buncombe County commissioners hold their next meeting March 17th, during which commissioners could declare a state of emergency in the county. The draft resolution added to the agenda does not offer any details on actions the emergency declaration would allow.

(3/12 6:15 a.m.) UNC Asheville will also extend its spring break by one week until March 23rd. It is then moving all classes online, and is asking students not to return to campus once spring break ends. Students are urged to take their classes remotely from the location of their choice. This setup will continue until at least April 6th.

The UNC system is prohibiting all gatherings of more than 100 people, and UNC Asheville is taking that a step further by canceling all events of 50 or more people. Visiting speaker events are also canceled or will be postponed.

(3/11/20 6 p.m.) Western Carolina University is among the schools in alignment with a UNC system decision to move all students online and out of the classroom. Chancellor Kelli Brown sent out a notice Wednesday evening stating WCU is extending its official spring break by an additional week until Monday, March 23.

Brown notes that the additional week will help enable faculty members to take the steps necessary to make the transition from in-person classes to delivery of their course materials online or via other distance methods that do not require face-to-face classes. Alternative forms of course delivery will begin on March 23 and will continue as long as the UNC System deems necessary.

However, the university will remain open. WCU will continue to provide services to students who need to remain on campus and operate the business functions of the university. All university-sponsored travel outside the state of North Carolina has also been suspended and in-state travel to gatherings of 100 or more people. This applies to faculty, staff and students. Here is the complete list of guidelines from the UNC System and WCU coronavirus updates website.

(3/11/20 11:30 a.m.) - Both Buncombe and Henderson County schools will suspend all out of state travel until further notice following Tuesday’s declaration of a state of emergency in North Carolina due to the Coronavirus. The move applies to all school-sponsored student and employee out of state travel.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper Tuesday afternoon declared a state of emergency after the number of presumptive & confirmed cases of COVID-19 grew to seven in NC. He was joined by North Carolina's chief medical officer Dr. Elizabeth Tilson at a press conference later Tuesday at AB Tech in Asheville. Tilson told reporters after a meeting with local health officials there are no confirmed cases at this point in Western North Carolina. Six of the seven cases are in Wake County, with the other in Chatham County. Tilson also said the state is not recommending that schools close yet, but that contingency plans for tele-learning should be explored. Tilson noted that broadband access, a lack of which plagues many parts of rural Western North Carolina, could play a factor in determining school closures.

Tuesday afternoon, Advent Health became the latest health system to increase screening of all people who enter its facilities for Coronavirus, including at its hospital in Hendersonville. Mission Health put similar screening measures in place earlier this month. Visitor restrictions were already in place at Mission due to the flu season.

Organizers of the Connect Beyond Festival, which takes April 3rd through the 5th in Asheville, say it is still scheduled to take place. But they add they will be assessing the situation on a daily basis, saying in a press release that the safety of guests and festival participants is their number one priority. Plans are already in place to have hand-sanitizing stations at all events at Connect Beyond.