KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Kalamazoo county has reported its largest number of deaths among county residents as more and more cases get detected by health officials.
A total of 14 new cases have been confirmed, bringing the total number to 405.
On Friday the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department announced that 6 more people were confirmed to have died from COVID-19, the largest single-day increase since the outbreak began. At last reported a total of 19 individuals in the community have died after contracting the illness.
Health officials caution that not all of the deaths occurred during the same day due to a lag in reporting.
“Reporting of communicable diseases, and outcomes such as a death, depends upon physicians, authorized healthcare professionals, and health facilities notifying the health department,” said county representatives in a released statement.
The first confirmed case was reported to the health department on March 10th, with testing numbers peaking on April 20th before declining again. Beginning Thursday, April 30th cases continued to rise again.
KHCSD reports that all 6 of the new fatalities were among patients over 60-years-old.
Nine of the COVID-19 deaths in Kalamazoo County have been among residents between the ages of 60-79, and ten deaths have occurred in patients over 80. According to the county’s COVID-19 tracking webpage, the average age of those who have died is 79.
The health department previously decided to make sex, age, and racial demographic information on cases available to the public, as well as a count of where cases are concentrated based on zip code.
Starting Friday the website is reporting the sex and race of deaths recorded within the county.
