Unvaxxed Marin Resident County’s 1st COVID Death In Two Months

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Marin County last week reported its first confirmed coronavirus death in more than two months, officials said.

The unvaccinated county resident died Wednesday after being admitted to a hospital with respiratory symptoms according to Marin County Public Health.

The county’s first reported COVID-19 fatality since mid-May was the county’s 186th coronavirus-related death.

All Marin County residents who have died from COVID-19 have been unvaccinated, county officials said.

Marin County Public Health said no additional identifying information about the person would be released.

“It’s especially hard to see people dying from COVID-19 when we know how preventable it is,” Marin Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said in a statement.

“We’re sharing this information so our community sees it’s not safe to be unvaccinated.”

More than 85 percent of Marin’s 12-and-over population has completed the vaccine series in America’s most vaccinated county.

But despite high vaccination rates Marin is still seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant.

As of Thursday, there were 258 active cases confirmed in the most recent two-week period, more than five times the number reported in mid-June.

Residents over age 65 became eligible for vaccinations in Marin on February 15, and an estimated 98 percent of local residents in that age group are fully vaccinated and protected.

Deaths among the 65-and-older age group took a sharp decline this spring after intensive countywide efforts to vaccinate our most vulnerable residents.

“This latest death has two lessons for us,” Willis said.

“The first is how good the Delta variant is at finding unvaccinated people, and the second is that unvaccinated people lack protection against severe illness and death.”

Willis noted that vaccinated individuals who are infected with COVID-19 are at significantly lower risk of severe illness and death.

Health officials urge people of all ages to get vaccinated, not just for their own health but for the health of those around them.

The Marin County Public Health website GetVaccinatedMarin.org includes a list of pop-up vaccination clinics at locations throughout the county. The Marin County Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 website is updated regularly with the latest localized and statewide information about the virus.