ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Health Department on Tuesday reported a COVID-related death from the last day of 2020.
According to the Health Department, the individual passed away at a local healthcare facility on Dec. 31.
The latest death makes 12 at such a facility, according to local health officials. Thirty-eight have died in a hospital and three have died outside of a healthcare setting.
Richmond County has now experienced 53 COVID-related deaths, including 13 in December, six in November and 15 in December. The county’s first death attributed to the coronavirus was announced on April 10.
The race and gender breakdown is as follows: nine African American females, seven African American males, one “other race” female, one Hispanic female, two American Indian males, 18 Caucasian females and 15 Caucasian males.
All patients have been between the ages of 31 and 95: 17 have been 80 or older; 15 have been in their 70s; 15 in their 60s; five in their 50s; and one who was 31.
Judging by previous reports, the latest death was that of a Caucasian male in his 70s.
As of Jan. 4, there have been 6,941 COVID-related deaths in the state, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Pilot of Southern Pines reported Tuesday that Moore County has underreported COVID-related deaths.
After reviewing death certificates, the Pilot found that only nine of 17 COVID-related deaths were reported by the local health department last month and three deaths so far this year have gone unreported.
The county’s official death toll, according to the county’s online dashboard, shows 77 COVID-related deaths. According to the Pilot, that number hasn’t changed since Dec. 21, but records show eight people have died of the coronavirus since then.
The newspaper also found that one man who was listed as a COVID victim by the health department had dementia listed as his cause of death.
Johns Hopkins University reports (as of 12:30 p.m. Dec. 30) there have been 353,926 COVID-related deaths in the U.S. — nearly 10,000 in less than a week — and 1,857,274 globally.
Neither the Health Department nor DHHS have yet released case information for Tuesday.
