Whitley County’s COVID-19 death toll now stands at 89 people

On Monday, two more Whitley County residents died from COVID-19 bringing the total number of people killed by the virus in Whitley County to 89 people.

While the ages of the two deceased people were not revealed, Whitley County Public Health Director Marcy Rein told the Whitley County Board of Health during its quarterly meeting Monday that it is becoming increasing more common for younger people to die from the virus.

The Whitley County Board of Health is the entity, which oversees the Whitley County Health Department.

Before June, about 74 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Whitley County involved people over the age of 70 years old.

“Now more than half are in people under 70 years old. We have definitely seen a shift to a younger age range,” Rein noted.

As of Monday, there had been 7,496 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Whitley County, but there are only 36 active cases currently.

About 40.2 percent of Whitley County residents have been vaccinated against the virus.

The Whitley County Health Department will be holding a COVID-19 vaccine clinic on Saturday, Nov. 20, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the health department’s main office in Williamsburg, which is located off Penny Lane.

Rein noted that the clinic is being held to accommodate school age children. The Williamsburg site was chosen for the clinic because Corbin Peds is already doing regular COVID-19 vaccinations in the Corbin area.

Rein added that since the health department adopted a policy requiring all employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, there has been one new home health nurse, who decided to resign.