COVID continues to take a toll on NEK residents

COVID continues to take a toll on NEK residents, as the Health Department reported two additional deaths earlier this month. The most recent pandemic fatality was on Jan. 11 of a Caledonia County woman in her 70s. The other was on Jan. 10 of an Orleans County resident in his or her 80s. These COVID-related fatalities raise the total for the Northeast Kingdom to 93 deaths since the start of the pandemic, which includes eight additional deaths that the Health Department announced several weeks ago that had previously been unreported from earlier in the pandemic due to data entry issues. So far there have been 41 deaths in Caledonia County, 48 in Orleans County and 4 in Essex County, reports the Health Department in their latest available data through Jan. 17. The region has now recorded 15,075 confirmed cases of COVID and has been averaging three or fewer cases per day since the beginning of the month.