After recording no COVID-19 deaths in Hall County for weeks, the Georgia Department of Public Health confirmed five such deaths on Wednesday.
The first death was reported with the agency's noon update and the other four were reported at 7 p.m.
While the state does not release names of those who died, it does release some information on each victim. Of the deaths reported Wednesday, one was an 89-year-old woman with underlying medical conditions. The other victims were men - ages 76, 75, 73 and 45. All but one of the male victims had underlying medical conditions that could have contributed to the deaths; it was unknown if the 75-year-old man had underlying conditions that could have contributed to his death.
Hall County has been among the top counties in the state in confirmed coronavirus cases for a couple of weeks (402 as of 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 15), but prior to Wednesday, there had been no confirmation of deaths on the state level. Both local officials and the Georgia Department of Public Health have indicated there is a lag time in the information reported at the local level, which is then confirmed and recorded on the state level.
Other counties in the North Georgia region also have reported deaths from COVID-19. In Gwinnett County, 32 people have died from the virus, while five people from Forsyth County have died, three from Barrow County, two each in Habersham and Dawson counties and one each in Jackson and Union counties.
