Coronavirus: 2nd Montgomery County resident dies from COVID-19

Another Montgomery County resident has died from the coronavirus that’s part of the outbreak.

Local public health officials did not have more information about the person. The state reported two people older than 80 have died from the outbreak in Montgomery County but did not have more information. The first Montgomery County death was confirmed Monday, March 30.

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The region continues to head toward the case surge projected to happen from the highly contagious virus. While the majority of people have mild illnesses, can manage at home and will recover, people young and old have also had serious cases from the respiratory illness that required advance care, such as in an intensive care unit.

Mayor Nan Whaley said she would suggest people look this weekend for instructions on how to make homemade cloth masks, such as the instructions on the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association’s website, because state leaders have been signalling that more guidance on masks could be coming.

“It’s going to be, I think, the next thing we need to prepare for, and so I encourage everybody to spend some time this weekend preparing for that,” Whaley said. “We don’t want to use the very scarce and precious resources of PPE (personal protective equipment), that’s why we really need people to start making their own.”

For people without the ability to make their own, Whaley said she expects there will be mask making and sharing going on.

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Every employee at Dayton Children’s is now required to wear face masks for employee and visitor safety. “But please know that we have big, bright smiles for you hiding under those masks!” the pediatric hospital said on Facebook.

The hospital said this decision was made with feedback from the Children’s Hospital Association, the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association and other U.S. organizations that have been hit dramatically by COVID-19.

Five new COVID-19 cases were confirmed Friday in Warren County. This brought to 31 the number of cases: 19 men and 12 women, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

The age range of those who have tested positive was 22 to 76 years old. So far, no deaths from the outbreak have been reported in Warren County, according to the coroner’s office. The total of 31 is 11 more than had been confirmed a week ago.

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In the region, one person has died from the virus in Butler County, one person in Darke County, one person in Greene County, eight people in Miami County and two people in Montgomery County.

In total in the region, there are 49 Butler County test-confirmed cases, four in Champaign County, seven in Clark County, 26 in Darke County, nine in Greene County, 64 in Miami County, 57 in Montgomery County, three in Preble County and 31 in Warren County, according to the latest update from Ohio Department of Health, as well as some additional cases recently recorded by county officials.

New data from Public Health-Dayton & Montgomery County includes new data breaking down the epidemiology of the cases further, including by age group and zip code.

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The Montgomery County zip code with the highest concentration of confirmed cases is 45458, which is the Centerville area, and has seven to nine test-confirmed cases.

Health officials say test-confirmed cases are only a small part of the picture and people should assume there are far more people sick with the virus.

There are only two people under age 19 with cases in the west Central Ohio area. The confirmed cases are otherwise distributed across all age groups with 11% people in their 20s, 13% in their 30s, 12% in their 40s, %16 in their 50s, 23% in their 60s, 9% in their 70s and 15% in their 80s or older.

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