Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — Five Adams County residents have now died due to COVID-19, county officials said.

Adams County coroner James Lee said Thursday morning that a 59-year-old white male, whose identity was not released, died at Merit Health Natchez at approximately 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Lee said a white female in her early 80s also died with the virus on Monday, April 6, at a nursing home in in Adams County.

The name of the nursing home was not disclosed in order to protect the family’s privacy, Lee said.

“In an effort to protect the privacy of families of COVID-19 patients, we are not reporting the exact demographic of these cases,” Lee said. “My prayers and condolences go out to these families in these difficult times.”

Since March, Lee said he has investigated a total of eight COVID-19-related deaths, including five residents of Adams County, two from Wilkinson County, and one from Concordia Parish.

“I’m terrified, because I see a trend here that I do not like,” Lee said. “Until there is a cure or a vaccine, we should not be relaxing and from what I’ve heard there is no cure.”