ROCKINGHAM ― The Richmond County Health Department on Saturday morning announced a COVID-related death for the fourth consecutive day.
While the press release doesn’t say exactly when or where the resident passed away, the number of those who have died in a hospital rose by one to 43.
Fourteen deaths have occurred in a healthcare facility and four have been outside of a health setting.
Health and Human Services Director Dr. Tommy Jarrell had said at a school board meeting Jan. 12 that he was “deeply concerned” about the health of some of the 23 residents who were hospitalized at the time.
There have been 61 COVID-related deaths of Richmond County residents since April.
Just this week, the Health Department reported two on Jan. 13, one on Jan. 14 and three on Jan. 15. There was also one reported on Jan. 8, making eight this month.
October has had the most with 15, followed by 13 in December.
The race and gender breakdown is as follows: 11 African American females, eight African American males, one “other race” female, one “other race,” male, one Hispanic female, two American Indian males, 19 Caucasian females and 17 Caucasian males.
All patients have been between the ages of 31 and 95: 19 have been 80 or older; 18 have been in their 70s; 17 in their 60s; six in their 50s; and one who was 31.
Judging from previous reports, the latest death is that of an African American female 80 years old or older.
As of Jan. 16, there have been 8,016 COVID-related deaths in the state, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Johns Hopkins University reports (as of 1:32 a.m. Jan. 15) there have been 393,049 COVID-related deaths in the U.S. and 2,015,323 globally, with the 2 million mark being surpassed on Friday afternoon.
The county does not report new case numbers over the weekend.
As of Friday, there were 499 active cases, including 22 local hospitalizations.
So far, there have been 519 cases of the coronavirus this month. There were just over 400 for both October and November and more than 800 in December.
DHHS on Saturday reported 7,986 new cases statewide and 3,895 COVID-related hospitalizations.
On Thursday, DHHS announced that residents 65 years old and older can now get the vaccine, along with all health care workers.
Earlier this week, FirstHealth and the Health Department began administering the vaccine to those aged at least 75.
Free COVID-19 testing will continue throughout the month in the parking lot behind the Health Department. Testing will run from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, except when closed for lunch from noon-12:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
