COVID claims the life of 2nd Erath County resident.
A second resident has died from COVID-19, according to Erath County emergency management coordinator Susan Driskill.
“We received notification from out of county that an Erath County resident tested positive and was hospitalized and passed away today," the press release states. “Sadly, this brings the county to two deaths.”
Fourteen more residents tested positive on Friday; seven reside in Stephenville, two in Dublin and five in the county.
One of those patients was admitted to the hospital and the others are in isolation.
This brings the county's total to 339 positive cases and 115 active cases.
“We would like to send our condolences to the family of the Erath County resident who passed away,” officials said.
Erath County does not have a Health Department and are under the Texas Department of State Health Services Region 2/3 located in Arlington.
“We have a local health authority who is in contact with DSHS on our behalf. We at the county/city are not medical professionals so we rely on DSHS to give us guidance during this pandemic, much like the governor relies on the head of DSHS, Dr. John Hellerstedt,” the release states.
“When our local health authority receives information of a positive case he makes sure the doctor or clinic gives all that information to DSHS Region 2/3. At that point DSHS is responsible for doing any contact tracing and contacting the person who has tested positive. Due to HIPAA laws the county/city are not given any identifiable information."
For more information on COVID-19, visit the Texas Department of State Health Services.