Allen County appears to have weathered 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with relatively few deaths compared to the state in general.
Nine county residents died from COVID-19 in 2020, with all of those deaths coming in the last two months of the year, according to statistics from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Those deaths would be followed by 22 others lost to the coronavirus since the pandemic began in early 2020, for a total of 31. Three have died since the beginning of this year.
KDHE recently released its annual report of vital statistics, showing changes in such things as births, deaths, marriages and divorces.
Deaths and COVID
COVID-19 became the third-leading cause of death in Kansas in 2020, after heart disease and cancer, the report said.
In 2020, 3,272 Kansans were lost to COVID. That number has now risen to 7,388.
Overall, deaths were 15.3% higher, mostly because of COVID-19: 31,667 Kansans died in 2020 compared to 27,312 in 2019.
But in Allen County, the total number of deaths actually dropped to its lowest level in five years.
In 2020, a total of 151 Allen County residents died, the lowest number since 2016. That’s down from 2019, when there were 176 deaths.
The KDHE website shows the first death from COVID-19 in Allen County occurred on Nov. 3, 2020. Four men and five women died from COVID that first year. All were 65 and older, with four older than 85.
Most other deaths in Allen County were attributed to medical causes such as heart disease and cancers, with six dying from accidents (none were from vehicle accidents) and one from suicide.
Births
Allen County’s birth rate remains lower than its deaths, with 135 babies born and 151 deaths for a difference of 16.
That means the county is losing more residents than it is gaining through natural attrition.
