ROCKINGHAM — A drive-thru vigil to remember all the Richmond County residents who died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 will have to be rescheduled.
The event, which was to feature a luminary for all 92 people, was planned for this Friday, but Aging Services Director Jacqueline Welch decided to call it off because of the threat of showers and storms.
The National Weather Service is forecasting a 20% chance of thunderstorms Thursday night; a 30% chance Friday and up to a 60% chance Saturday night.
Welch said no make-up date has yet been scheduled.
The first COVID-related death in Richmond County was reported April 10, 2020 and the most recent was announced March 10, 2021.
There have been 39 so far this year, including 13 in February and 23 in January. There were also 15 in October and 13 in December of 2020.
As of Thursday, there have been 12,224 COVID-related deaths in North Carolina, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services, 672 of those have been since March 9.
According to Johns Hopkins University, as of 11:05 a.m. March 5, the U.S. leads the world’s nations in COVID-related deaths with 559,281. There have been 2,891,793 worldwide.
