Officials in Guilford and Forsyth counties, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Rockingham County declared states of emergency effective Friday.
The declarations were made in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The announcements come after 15 presumptive cases of the virus were identified in North Carolina. Two people from Forsyth County, two from Mecklenburg, and a person from Johnston County are among the cases that tested presumptively positive for novel coronavirus (COVID-19.) This brings the total of positive cases in North Carolina to 15, including a Durham resident who tested positive in another state, according to state health officials.