On Wednesday, the Highland County Health Department reported the county’s third COVID-19-related death. The patient was a woman in her 80s.

The health department stated that no further information regarding the patient will be released at this time and asked the community to respect the family’s privacy as they mourn her loss.

Last week, the health department reported the county’s second COVID-19-related death. The patient was a male in his 70s who passed away at the hospital.

In Fayette County, five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported by Fayette County Public Health (FCPH) on Thursday. A total of 20 new cases have been reported since last Friday and 12 in the past two days. FCPH also reported Thursday that one confirmed case has recovered and released from monitoring.

According to FCPH on Thursday, there are 28 individuals who are actively ill and four who are currently hospitalized. There have been zero deaths from COVID-19 in Fayette County.

Per the Ohio COVID-19 risk level guidelines as of Thursday, Fayette County was in the orange/Level 2 risk level, which indicates that there is “increased exposure and spread.”

FCPH is working with the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) to conduct contact tracing to determine if any of the close contacts of these individuals are sick. All of these close contacts are asked to quarantine themselves for 14 days and monitor themselves for symptoms of fever, cough, or shortness of breath. FCPH is highly committed to maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality. If you are not contacted, you did not have close extended contact with the cases.