September 11th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

The Allegany County Health Department reports six new cases of COVID-19 in Allegany County including a male in his teens, a female in her 20s, a female in her 40s, a male and female in their 50s, and a male in his 70s.  None of the new cases have required hospitalization.  This brings the cumulative number of cases in Allegany County to 417. 

To date, 16,518 Allegany County residents have been tested for COVID-19.  Of those, 417 have tested positive and 16,101 have tested negative.

On Wednesday, the Health Department reported that an Allegany County nursing home patient died of COVID-19.  That individual was later determined to be a resident of another county.   When an individual passes away in a facility such as a nursing home, the patient’s family decides what the patient’s “county of residence” was.  The county of residence may be the county where the facility is located or the patient's home county where the patient lived before they were admitted to the facility.

To date, 23 Allegany County residents have died from COVID-19 including four individuals who died in facilities outside of the county or state and called Allegany County home.  Three other individuals died in Allegany County but are not counted as Allegany County deaths because they called another county or state home. 

The Health Department has received several questions about how COVID-19 deaths are counted.  When an individual passes away, the individual’s cause of death is determined by a physician.  The physician may report one or multiple causes of death.  If the physician designates COVID-19 as one of the causes of death, then that death is counted as a COVID-19 death.