There's another COVID-19 death to add to last month's total.
Chatham-Kent Public Health reported a woman in her 90s died at the Chatham hospital last week. Her death brings the total number of deaths for the month of January to 21 and 48 so far during the pandemic.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said sometimes it takes a while to sort out how people have died.
"We have to determine whether someone who is reported as a death, whether they died with COVID, of COVID, or whether they didn't have it at all," said Dr. Colby.
Colby said sometimes deaths can be reported in bunches, but it doesn't mean there has been a rash of new deaths, adding it's because the exact cause of death has to be determined before it's reported.
"People who have or have had COVID may not die of that. They may die of something else," he said.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) reported a new death on Monday. The death involved a 78-year-old woman who died at the hospital on Sunday, but she wasn't a resident of Chatham-Kent and is not included in the local COVID-19 statistics.
On Tuesday, CKHA said it had 23 COVID-19 patients in the hospital and nine were being treated primarily for the virus. The others went to the hospital because of other illnesses and then tested positive for COVID-19.
There are four COVID-19 patients in the ICU, according to hospital officials.
There were no new outbreaks reported by the health unit on Tuesday. The number of outbreaks stands at six.
