(Cleveland)- The crowd at Freedom Park was light but the enthusiasm was strong at a memorial service held Thursday to honor the 66 victims in White County who have died as a result of the Coronavirus.
The program was conducted by the White County Board of Education, with support from the White County Commissioners and the City of Cleveland.
The idea for the event was suggested by White County High School Junior Samuel Shobert, whose grandmother was one of the victims of the deadly virus.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Laurie Burkett thanked Shobert for suggesting the memorial, “for making us as a community slow down and come together and remember.
COVID death tolls
According to figures from Johns Hopkins University, at least 570,611 people in the United States have died with the virus since the outbreak began. Georgia has confirmed 17,304 deaths with another 2,571 considered “probable” COVID deaths.
Health officials have confirmed around a thousand deaths in Northeast Georgia. In Habersham County, at least 150 people have died with COVID; that’s the second-highest death toll in the region behind Hall County with 432 deaths. Other county death tolls in the region as of April 23 are as follows:
- Clarke County: 135 deaths
- Jackson County: 137 deaths
- Stephens County: 79 deaths
- Oconee County: 62 deaths
- Madison County: 46 deaths
- Franklin County: 43 deaths
- Union County: 67 deaths
- Hart County: 37 deaths
- Banks County: 33 deaths
- Elbert County: 57 deaths
- Rabun County: 41 deaths
- Towns County: 42 deaths
