Essex County has reported four new COVID-19 deaths in the past week, two of whom were residents of the Essex Center nursing home in Elizabethtown. The facility is in the midst of a deadly coronavirus outbreak.

The Essex County Health Department said both Essex Center residents were fully vaccinated. Neither of these people had yet received a booster dose of the vaccine, and had been vaccinated last winter.

One was a patient in the rehab unit and the other was a long-term care patient.

The third person who died from COVID-19 this week was fully vaccinated but had not been boostered. The fourth person was not vaccinated.

ECHD said three of these people were hospitalized prior to their deaths.

A total of 51 people have now died from COVID-19 in Essex County throughout the pandemic.

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Essex Center outbreak

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Last week, ECHD identified 28 COVID-19 cases in an outbreak at the Essex Center nursing home. The outbreak started in late November but the virus spread undetected for a few weeks. Four residents of the nursing home died from COVID-19 earlier this month. Now, a total of six people have died in the outbreak.

Last year, the Essex Center had the deadliest outbreak of the virus to date in Essex County. Altogether, 16 residents or patients died from COVID-19 there last year. In early November, there was another outbreak of the virus at Essex Center, with 17 residents and three staff testing positive.

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County numbers

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ECHD on Thursday reported 79 new COVID-19 cases found since Monday, with six in North Elba, three in St. Armand and two in Keene. On Thursday, there were 195 active COVID-19 cases countywide.

Franklin County recorded 33 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. On that day, there were 243 active cases of COVID-19 in the county. According to a map Franklin County Public Health created using data from Tuesday, there were 43 COVID-19-positive people in Tupper Lake and 21 in Harrietstown.

“Our daily positive cases are high and therefore, we have a classification of very high risk for the spread of the virus,” Franklin County Manager Donna Kissane wrote in an email.

Eight of the county’s active cases were inmates at Bare Hill Correctional, a state prison in Malone.

In total, 28 people have died from COVID-19 in Franklin County throughout the pandemic.

Last week, 12 children under five years old tested positive for COVID-19, 55 under 13 years old tested positive and 28 under 18 years old tested positive. That week, 30% of the people who tested positive in Franklin County were under 18 years old.

Kissane urged parents to get their children who are 5 years of age and older vaccinated.

On Thursday, Adirondack Medical Center, a hospital in Saranac Lake, reported that it had seven people hospitalized with COVID-19 and one on a ventilator.