As Wood County recorded its 10th death related to the COVID-19 viral disease Friday, the Northeast Texas Public Health District began releasing details about the victims.

The ten range in age from 74 to 100.

The 10th death was announced on Friday and includes five from Winnsboro, all before June 10, four from Mineola in the past two weeks and one from Alba last week.

The case count also rose to 291 total on July 31, which gives the county more than 200 cases during July (202). Active cases jumped from 29 on June 30 to 155 Friday while recoveries grew from 55 to 126 during the month.

The 10th COVID-related death in Wood County is a 100-year old male resident of Mineola. The nine previous COVID-related deaths in the county are as follows: 

• 74-year old female resident of Winnsboro
• 75-year old male resident of Winnsboro 
• 76-year old male resident of Winnsboro
• 77-year old female resident of Alba 
• 77-year old male resident of Winnsboro
• 83-year old female resident of Winnsboro 
• 88-year old female resident of Mineola
• 89-year old female resident of Mineola 
• 97-year old female resident of Mineola

Also on Friday county and local city officials received a letter from UT Health East Texas signed by Chief Medical Officer Tom Cummins (MD) and Moody Chisholm, president and CEO.

It says that the hospital is seeing more COVID-19 patients and that they are sicker.

One month ago the patient count was 25 and has increased to 70 in-patients daily.

“The virus is spreading at an alarming rate in our community, which is why we are asking for your help spreading the message about the importance of wearing a face covering, practicing social distancing and proper handwashing, among other precautions,” the letter says. “Reducing the spread not only protects our economy, but it also protects our brave caregivers.”

Wood County surpassed 300 cases on Monday, hitting 302. Of those, 104 were considered active while 188 are recovered.

The largest age group is 41-59 with 91 cases followed by 60-79 with 84 and 21-40 with 57. Females outnumber males 174-128.

While older age groups continue to be the largest in terms of numbers of cases in the county, the lower age groups are growing with 22 cases under age 20.

Mineola has jumped to 131 cases compared to just 15 at the end of June. Winnsboro grew from 42 to 61, Quitman from 12 to 38 and Alba from eight to 29. Yantis went from six to 19 and Hawkins five to 18.