The number of confirmed cases in McLennan County nearly doubled Friday, rising from seven to 13 as results of tests performed on 65 residents come in, the Waco-McLennan County Health District said.

Twenty of the 65 tested negative for the virus.

The results of the remaining 34 tests are still pending.

One of the 13 cases was acquired locally, Waco Mayor Kyle Deaver said during a news conference late Thursday afternoon, which raises concern about community spread.

One of the 13 is a Baylor University student who traveled “out of state to an area with high community transmission, but self-isolated away from the Baylor campus,” the university’s president, Dr. Linda Livingstone, said in an email to faculty and staff.

Livingstone earlier said two faculty members also tested positive for the virus.

“These cases are all travel-related. I know this news is difficult to hear and deeply unsettling to all of us, and unfortunately, we anticipate that we will have additional positive cases during the days and weeks ahead as COVID-19 continues to spread across the country,” she said.

Community transmission of the virus underscores the importance of social distancing and other preventive measures, officials said.

“We’re concerned that we have spread in the community now,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Farley Verner said.

“From this point on our efforts are to prevent further spread of the virus.”

Verner declined to answer questions about whether one of the residents with the virus worked in a retail store.

“If there’s activity in the community it would be because of close contacts and the guidelines at present do not consider that person going through a retail store as what’s called a close contact where you have contact within less than six feet for a significant amount of time.”

Deaver also announced Thursday that Waco’s hospitals and the Family Health Center will work with anyone with possible symptoms of the virus who doesn’t have insurance.

Verner said all three facilities have the ability to test for COVID-19, but did not know how many test kits each has.

Six cases of the new coronavirus were confirmed Wednesday in McLennan County, including an employee of a local restaurant.

The cases include a 64-year old man who returned from Israel last Thursday and traveled with a Bell County resident, who also has the virus; a 68-year old man from Ecuador who was visiting family in McLennan County; a married couple with a travel history to New York. The man is 56-years old and the woman is 52-years old; a 59-year old man with a travel history to Wyoming, and a 27-year-old man whose travel history has not been determined.

One of the cases involves an employee of the Chick-fil-A restaurant in the Richland Mall, the restaurant's operator, Jake Roye, said in a social media post.

Roye said he has closed the restaurant temporarily and is working with the health district as well as disinfecting and deep cleaning.

The Waco-McLennan County Health District said earlier Thursday, "there is no danger or exposure to the public at large" from the positive case associated with the Chick-fil-A employee at Richland Mall.

Health officials said the employee did not have customer exposure and had not been at the facility in the days prior to him being tested.

Two of the cases involve Baylor University faculty members who traveled to New York over spring break, the university’s president, Livingstone, said in an email Wednesday to students and staff.

“The two faculty members recently traveled to New York City over spring break on non-University travel and began feeling ill upon their return. I can confirm that they did not return to the Baylor campus, and thankfully, have been in self-isolation since traveling home,” she said in the email.

Waco and McLennan County have both issued declarations of local disaster that order bars to close and limit restaurants, wineries and microbreweries to take-out and drive-through service.

The order also closes down indoor recreational facilities and indoor amusement facilities, which include such businesses as gyms, theaters, pool halls, bingo halls and video arcades.

The order, however, does not apply to schools, office space, child care facilities, residential buildings, grocery stores, malls, retail establishments, hospitals and medical facilities provided that those present “are generally not within six feet of one another for extended periods.”

Waco’s order was amended Thursday to ban gatherings of 10 or more people to bring it in line with the order McLennan County commissioners approved earlier in the day.

Seven Bell County residents, one Milam County resident and one person in Bosque County who is not a resident of the county have also tested positive for the virus.