'Grim milestone': County surpasses 150 COVID-19 deaths

Hancock County has surpassed the "grim milestone" of 150 residents having died of COVID-19, Health Commissioner Karim Baroudi confirmed Friday. However, case numbers are down from a week ago, he said. The weekly update released by Hancock Public Health on Friday morning noted that one more county resident had died since last week, making a total of 150. But Baroudi said that later on Friday, two more death certificates had been added. "So it's unfortunate that we're up to 152," he said. This means that roughly 0.2% of the county's population, or 1 in 500 residents, has died of COVID-19. The 150th death was a 59-year-old man who was unvaccinated, Baroudi said. The other two deaths were a 32-year-old woman and a 79-year-old man, vaccination information for whom wasn't immediately available. Baroudi said one of the deaths had actually occurred several weeks ago, but it was only added to the list of Hancock County COVID-19 death certificates Friday after the deceased — who was in the process of moving from one county to another — was determined to be a Hancock County resident. Baroudi said 51.97% of the county's COVID-19 deaths were people 80 or older, and another 31.58% were 70-79. The deaths also include individuals ages 60-69 (7.89% of deaths); 50-59 (3.95% of deaths); 40-49 (3.29% of deaths) and 30-39 (1.3% of deaths). No county residents under 30 are confirmed to have died of COVID-19. A downward trend Friday's report states there have been 214 new cases of the virus this week and 20 new hospitalizations. Since the pandemic began, the health department has recorded 9,649 cases of the virus in county residents, and 677 county residents have been hospitalized. Baroudi noted the number of new cases last week was 313, so we are starting to see a downward trend. "It's very important, though, for people to stay vigilant," he said. He encouraged people to continue precautions such as wearing masks and maintaining distancing. While in general "we are programmed to not think about prevention much," it's important to, if going into a grocery store or a meeting, keep these things in mind, he said. Baroudi said the county's COVID-19 numbers are "still showing improvement," but it is slow improvement. He noted the county is still experiencing what is considered high transmission. The county's incidence of the virus was 335.17 cases per 100,000 people, down from 409.06 cases per 100,000 people a week ago. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines high incidence of the virus as 100 cases or more per 100,000 people in a two-week period. Active cases As of Friday, there were 311 active cases among Hancock County residents. The active cases range in age from 18 months to 90 years old, and just 69 of the 311 — or 22.2% — are vaccinated. And 64 of the 311 active cases were school-age children, Baroudi said. His hope is that, when the vaccine is approved for children ages 5-11, that will be a "tremendous help" in raising the county's vaccination numbers. He said the health department continues to get calls from parents asking about shots for children. The county's test positivity rate also decreased slightly, to 9.18% of tests coming back positive, Baroudi said. (A health department Facebook post from earlier in the day gives the incidence as 312.74 cases per 100,000 and the positivity rate as 8.7%.) As of Friday, 21 Hancock County residents were hospitalized with COVID-19, 20 of them at Blanchard Valley Hospital and one at Ohio State University. Baroudi said the people currently hospitalized range from 29 to 86 years old. Since the pandemic began, 27 vaccinated people have been hospitalized, out of 677 total hospitalizations. This means unvaccinated people have made up 96% of hospitalizations among Hancock County residents. Of the 152 people who have died of the virus, five were vaccinated, Baroudi said, meaning 97% of county residents who have died of the virus were not vaccinated. Arthurs: 419-427-8494