Jacob Ogles
Manatee County saw another nine individuals die from COVID-19 in a span of 24 hours. In total, 29 Manatee residents have died as a result of the pandemic.
Among those lost? Manatee County’s first black County Commissioner, Gwen Brown.
The death was announced at an emergency meeting of the Manatee County Commission on Friday afternoon. County Commissioner Carol Whitmore, who served with Brown for years, announced the news, according to the Bradenton Herald.
“I’ve known Gwen Brown for a very long time and I know the heart she had for her community, so I extend condolences to her family,” Whitmore said.
Brown, a Democrat, first won election to a district seat on the board in 1994. She remained until 2010 when she was defeated in a Democratic primary by Michael Gallen.
She briefly considered a rematch with Gallen four years later but chose not to run because of family reasons.
The death was a high-profile one, announced at the same meeting in which Commissioners voted to keep a curfew in place until next week.
Their decision came before the full tragedy of the day was known. The leap of nine deaths, including four people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, marked a 31% spike in the number of Manatee County residents felled by the disease.
Brown, 68, was among those whose case was first reported by the Department of Health on Thursday. A 67-year-old woman, an 81-year-old man, an 83-year-old man and a 94-year-old woman were also confirmed positive just a day before their deaths were reported.
But a 49-year-old woman, diagnosed five days ago, also died, the county’s youngest victim to date. An 81-year-old woman, a 90-year-old man and a 91-year-old man all diagnosed six days ago also were reported dead Friday.
While Southwest Florida hasn’t seen an outbreak on the scale of South Florida, the coronavirus has proven especially deadly in the retiree-rich region. Roughly 8.9% of the 326 Manatee residents diagnosed with COVID-19 have died.
In neighboring Sarasota County, 22 of 274 known cases have resulted in death. In Charlotte County, nine of 131 people tested positive have died.
Manatee has seen significantly more deaths than neighboring counties in Tampa Bay. Hillsborough County has reported 19 deaths, despite 924 testing positive for COVID-19 there. Pinellas County has seen 16 deaths, with 565 testing positive.
