October is not off to a good start as COVID-19 continues to ravage the local area and the amount of deaths contributed to the virus has jumped. So far in October, there has been eight deaths reported locally.
In Monroe County, Health Department Administrator John Wagner stated on Oct. 1 that they were dealing with outbreaks in two nursing homes. Affected were Oak Hill in Waterloo and Integrity Healthcare in Columbia.
On Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 he reported the deaths of two Oak Hill residents. Two additional deaths at Oak Hill were reported on Oct. 4. On Oct. 5, Wagner reported three more deaths.
With the last three deaths, he noted that one was from Oak Hill, while the other two were “cases of COVID from weeks/months ago that died that were now determined to be associated with COVID.” He added that one had fallen and passed shortly after at a hospital, and the other had many other serious health conditions and was not initially stated as a COVID death.
For more COVID-19 updates, please see this week’s print edition.