ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Health Department on Thursday announced the first COVID-related death for the month of February.
According to a press release, the death occurred within the past 24 hours.
This latest death brings the county’s total since April of 2020 to 77 and marks the 24th for 2021. There were reportedly 23 COVID-related deaths in January, the most of any one month. There were also 15 in October and 13 in December.
The most recent death appears to have occurred in a hospital, as that total now stands at 54. County Health officials say 19 residents have died in a healthcare facility and four have passed away outside of a health setting.
The race and gender breakdown is as follows: 15 African American females, 12 African American males, two “other race” females, one “other race,” male, one Hispanic female, two American Indian males, 23 Caucasian females and 21 Caucasian males.
All patients have been between the ages of 31 and 95: 21 have been 80 or older; 23 have been in their 70s; 24 in their 60s; eight in their 50s; and one who was 31.
The race and gender of the latest decedent is unclear as the number of African American females and Caucasian males both increased by one from the previous report and the number of African American males decreased by one. However, it appears the resident was in his or her 60s.
There have been 9,578 COVID-related deaths in North Carolina as of Feb. 3, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Thursday’s numbers had not been released as of this writing.
According to Johns Hopkins University, as of 12:07 p.m. Feb. 4 there have been 451,454 COVID-related deaths in the U.S. and 2,273,515 globally.
