ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Health Department on Thursday announced the county’s 41st COVID-related death.
According to a press release, the unnamed patient died in a local hospital.
This marks the first death in December. There were five in November and 15 in October. The most recent previous death was reported on Nov. 24.
According to the Health Department, 30 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: 16 have been 80 or older; 11 have been in their 70s; 10 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, 16 Caucasian females and 10 Caucasian males.
It is not known if any of the patients had underlying conditions.
As of Dec. 3, there were 5,410 COVID-related deaths in the state, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
On Wednesday, DHHS shared a quote on Facebook from Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen regarding COVID-related deaths to those caused by the flu:
“Sadly, more than 5,000 North Carolinians have lost their lives from this virus since our first death on March 12. To give some perspective, just under 1,500 people died from the flu in the past ten years. In just 11 months, COVID has killed more than three times that number.”
Johns Hopkins University reports (as of 12:17 p.m. Dec. 3) there have been 273,920 COVID-related deaths in the U.S. and 1,497,093 globally.
North Carolina has had fewer deaths than the two states with similar populations: Georgia, 9,567; Michigan, 9,842.
However, it has had more deaths than other surrounding states: South Carolina, 4,444; Virginia, 4,147; Tennessee, 4,658. All three states have populations less than that of North Carolina.
The Health Department has reported 74 new cases so far this month. Thursday’s data has not yet been released.
