Health officials confirm fourth — and youngest — Lee County coronavirus death

Conrad Buchanan via Facebook

Lee County has seen four deaths of individuals tested positive for coronavirus, according to the Florida Department of Health. That puts the mortality rate within the community at 5.26%, significantly higher than in the state as a whole. That compared to a statewide mortality rate of 1.21%

The most recent death was a 39-year-old man. Officials have not determined if his infection was travel-related, and do not know if had contact with another confirmed case.

That death was apparently Conrad Buchanan, a local DJ who performed under the name Griff Gotti. The native New Yorker revealed on Facebook on March 21 that he had tested positive for coronavirus.

Buchanan died Thursday night and was survived by his wife and daughter, according to NBC-2.

Buchanan is by far the youngest Lee County patient to die, and it’s unclear if he had any underlying health conditions before contracting the virus. In the post before his death, he revealed that for a period, he was being nursed by his wife at home.

Three other individuals previously died in Lee County.

Those include a 67-year-old man who died at HealthPark Medical Center, as well as a 77-year-old man and 77-year-old woman who died at Gulf Coast Medical Center.

The woman, the first recorded coronavirus death in Florida, was diagnosed posthumously. She had recently traveled to the Dominican Republic.

Health officials in Lee County, which has an estimated population of more than 770,000, report a total of 75 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19, as has one resident currently outside of the state. Five of the individuals tested positive are not Florida residents.

The news comes as Lee County Commissioners show greater resistance than some peers in counties with substantial numbers of positive cases.

On Wednesday, Lee County Commissioners elected not to put a stay-at-home order in place, but left the option open to revisiting it at an emergency meeting Monday morning.

That decision came after neighboring Collier County Commissioners had approved a request to Gov. Ron DeSantis to be granted greater authority with an order. The Collier Commission will consider a shelter order this afternoon.

Southwest Florida as a whole has seen its share of deaths from the illness. Two have died in Sarasota, including renowned playwright Terrance McNally. One person also died in Manatee County. And one of just five individuals tested positive in Highlands County has now died as well.

As of Friday evening, there are 3,054 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among Florida residents statewide, with another 144 cases in Non-Florida residents. Of those cases, 475 have been through travel, 562 were from contact with a confirmed case and 296 came from a combination of both. Still under investigation are 1,720 cases.

There have been 46 COVID-19 related deaths in Florida.

According to the New York Times, more than 100,000 people in the United States are now infected with the coronavirus — surpassing the case totals in both China and Italy. It’s a milestone that came on the same day that the national death toll surpassed 1,500.