Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone (Provided photo — Evan Wheaton, Malone Telegram)

A third resident of Franklin County has died after contracting COVID-19.

The person, whose death was reported Friday morning, was a resident of the Alice Center nursing home in Malone who’d tested positive for COVID-19 and was discharged to Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, spokesman Phillip Rau confirmed.

The county and Alice Hyde both declined to offer further information about the person, which often happens because of federal privacy laws. The county also said this is done out of respect for the person’s family.

“We are saddened by this news this morning,” county Manager Donna Kissane said.

Two other Franklin County residents died earlier this month after contracting COVID-19, both in their 80s, one of them a resident of the Alice Center nursing home. Until this month, Franklin County had reported no COVID-19 fatalities. New York state had previously reported one for the county, but county officials denied it.

Chart showing U.S. cases, deaths and recoveries.

The number of new known cases of COVID-19 in Franklin County each day is rising at a pace not seen before, though it’s possible that there were many more infections in March and April than health officials were aware of because widespread testing was not available here for some time.

Franklin County again reported a record number of active cases on Friday — 72. That’s 11 new cases since Thursday. Those 11 mean that close to 3.2% of the 344 test results returned were positive. Over the past seven days, the county’s average positivity rate is 2.78%.

At the Alice Center as of Friday morning, there were 10 COVID-19 positive residents, plus another six COVID-19-positive residents who had been discharged and transferred to a hospital, according to Rau. There are also seven Alice Center staff members, who have tested positive for COVID-19, who are currently not working and isolating.

The Alice Hyde Medical Center had four COVID-19-positive inpatients as of Friday morning.

Since the pandemic began in March, of the 332 people countywide who have either tested positive for COVID-19 or have been suspected of having it, 257 have been deemed recovered. Some people who contract COVID-19 have reported having symptoms of the illness for weeks or months after they’re no longer contagious.

Daily confirmed cases globally

There are 475 people across the county who are either in isolation, meaning they’ve tested positive, or quarantine, meaning they’re either awaiting a test result, have traveled from a place under a travel advisory, or they have been identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive.

“Face coverings, sanitizing and physically distancing is the best defense at this time,” Kissane said.

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Essex County

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Neighboring Essex County reported three new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing its total number of known active cases to 23. About 3.5% of the county’s 84 test results returned on Friday were positive.

One of those new positives is a resident of Elderwood of Uihlein in Lake Placid, a nursing home and rehabilitation center.

There are now two people hospitalized with COVID-19 countywide, according to the county Health Department.

Of the 23 active cases, six are located in the town of Jay and six in the town of North Elba. The towns of Wilmington, Ticonderoga, Moriah, Schroon and St. Armand have two cases each. There is one case in the town of Chesterfield.