Additional COVID death reported from last fall

A 24th Jefferson County resident died from COVID, the disease caused by the coronavirus, last fall, but the death was announced months later at a time when cases in the county are again on the rise after dropping to nearly zero this spring.

The death was the third COVID death announced in the county in 2022, following a rash of 15 deaths in the county that began in late summer 2021 and continued through the fall and early winter. This death occurred “at the end of November,” according to Jefferson County Public Health Supervisor Pam Hanna, which places the death in the midst of last fall and winter’s surge, and makes it the 16th death of an already deadly season.

On Thursday, the Jefferson County Health Department announced in a Facebook post that “this death was identified during a routine death reconciliation,” but the department did not specify when the death occurred. The department previously announced the 22nd COVID death in the county in a Facebook post on Jan. 7, and the 23rd death appeared in a weekly release of case counts on Feb. 7.