An eighth person in North Carolina has tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, health officials said Wednesday.

And a ninth person — a Durham County resident — has tested positive in another state and will remain there until the isolation period is complete, Durham health officials said.

The new North Carolina case — a person in Wake County — is connected to a patient in Indiana who tested positive after attending a Biogen corporate conference and then spent time at Biogen’s Research Triangle Park office, the state said.

All of the patients are in isolation while officials identify close contacts.

“This is not a surprise,” said Wake County Medical Director Dr. Kim McDonald in a statement. “As we track the movements of the people already affected by COVID-19, it’s likely that more individuals will test presumptively positive for the virus.”

Durham health officials did not say what state the Durham resident is in. The person did not have close contact with any Durham County residents while exhibiting symptoms, according to a release.

The Durham resident returned to Raleigh-Durham International Airport March 2 from international travel, according to a patient timeline provided by Durham officials. The person drove out of state on March 5 and then was diagnosed March 9, the release said.

“Because the diagnosed individual was not symptomatic upon flying to RDU, the risk to passengers on the flight and others within the airport is considered low,” Durham officials said.

As more cases have been reported in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency, making the state eligible for federal emergency funding.

State workers and contractors who live or work in Wake, Durham and Orange counties are encouraged to work remotely “to the greatest extent possible,” the state’s human resources office said in an email to employees.

Cooper also urged private businesses — particularly in the Triangle, where the state’s cases have been reported — to similarly allow their employees to work remotely if at all possible.

On March 6, Biogen, a biotechnology company with about 1,400 employees in Research Triangle Park, asked its employees to work from home after receiving word of the conference-related outbreak.

Meanwhile, Duke University announced Tuesday night that all on-campus classes will be indefinitely suspended and remote instruction will begin.

Students should not return to campus “if at all possible,” the statement from President Vincent E. Price said.

Wednesday, the UNC system said it would transition to “alternative course delivery, where possible and practical,” according to a release. That could include remote or online classes.

Previous North Carolina cases

The state’s first case on March 3 involved a Wake County man who tested presumptively positive. Officials say he was exposed at a long-term care facility in Kirkland, Wash., the site of an outbreak, and then returned to North Carolina.

At the time of his return, he was “not experiencing symptoms” and presented no “identifiable risk” to travelers, according to RDU.

On March 5, a Chatham County man who had traveled to northern Italy, where there’s a COVID-19 outbreak, tested presumptively positive, state health officials said March 6. The man experienced “mild flu-like symptoms” while traveling in northern Italy, but his fever went away, the state said. He flew back to the United States the next day, arriving in RDU via John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

The man was a “close contact” to a case in Georgia, the state said, and Georgia health officials contacted their North Carolina counterparts.

On Monday, officials announced that five more people in North Carolina tested positive for COVID-19 after attending the same Biogen corporate conference in Boston last month.

Dozens of people around the country who attended the conference Feb. 24-27 have tested positive for the virus, including an Indiana resident. The Indiana patient also spent time at Biogen’s Research Triangle Park office last week before driving home, Wake officials said Monday.

Coronavirus is primarily a respiratory disease, with symptoms similar to seasonal flu. According to the CDC, symptoms of coronavirus include fever, cough and shortness of breath.

People with questions or concerns about COVID-19 can call the state’s phone line at 866-462-3821.

This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 7:49 PM.