ROCKINGHAM — Two more Richmond County residents have passed away from the coronavirus, the Health Department reported Wednesday morning.
According to a press release, both deaths occurred at a local hospital within the past 24 hours.
The new deaths bring the county’s total to 44. So far there have been four in December. Six deaths were reported in November and 15 in October.
The county’s first death attributed to the coronavirus was announced on April 10.
According to the Health Department, 33 have passed away in a hospital, eight have died in another healthcare setting and three have died outside of a health setting.
All patients have been between the ages of 31 and 95: 17 have been 80 or older; 11 have been in their 70s; 12 in their 60s; three in their 50s; and one who was 31.
The race and gender breakdown is as follows: seven African American females, six African American males, two American Indian males, 17 Caucasian females and 12 Caucasian males.
It is not known if any of the patients had underlying conditions.
As of Dec. 9, there have been 5,661 COVID-related deaths in the state, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. There have been nearly 200 deaths reported statewide in the past five days.
Neighboring Moore County has had 70.
When compared to other counties with similar populations (43,000-48,000) Richmond falls in the upper end of the middle.
DHHS records (which may not be up to date with county records) show the following death totals:
- Vance – 60
- Beaufort – 56 (including the mayor of Washington)
- McDowell – 36
- Stokes – 21
- Jackson – 10
Johns Hopkins University reports (as of 11:55 a.m. Dec. 4) there have been 286,521 COVID-related deaths in the U.S. — nearly 10,000 more since Dec. 4 — and 1,561,953 globally.
The Health Department has reported 256 new cases so far this month. Wednesday’s local data has not yet been released.
On Tuesday, Richmond was added to the list of counties having critical community spread of COVID-19 in the state’s County Alert System.
