Slightly more than 70% of those who have died due to COVID-19-related complications within Chautauqua County during the nearly yearlong pandemic have occurred in the last 30 days.

What’s more, at least 50 of the 122 confirmed virus fatalities involve former residents of area nursing homes.

The county Health Department on Friday recorded five new deaths. To date, there have been four people between the ages of 40 and 49 who have died after being confirmed to have the virus; three between the ages of 50 and 59; 10 between 60 and 69; 27 between 70 and 79; 46 between 80 and 89; and 32 over the age of 90.

The health department also reported 45 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Six were from the Dunkirk zip code, seven in Fredonia and 14 in Jamestown. Several municipalities reported one or two new cases as well.

A breakdown of cases by known age appear to show no pattern, at least locally. According to county stats, 13.3% of total cases involve those up to the age of 19; 17.5% between 20 and 29; 13.7% between 30 and 39; 13.3% between 40 and 49; 14.6% between 50 and 59; 12.2% between 60 and 69; 6.6% between 70 and 79; 4.2% between 80 and 89; and 2.1% over the age of 90.

However, the information clearly shows the fatality rate is higher among the older population.

The county Health Department said there were, based on information collected Thursday, 351 active cases of the coronavirus, a drop of eight. There were 34 people with COVID in the hospital, an increase of one, along with 6,961 total confirmed cases, 6,488 recoveries, 1,791 people in quarantine and a seven-day positivity rate of 5.3%.

The positivity rate statewide was 4.31%, with a seven-day average of 4.67%.

“The numbers are continuing to decline after our post-holiday surge, but we are not out of the woods yet,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his daily COVID update. “We’ve flattened the curve for a second time because New Yorkers rallied and pulled together to change their behavior. As we work to get shots in arms as fast as humanly possible, it is now more important than ever that we keep this downward trend going and continue to wear a mask and socially distance.”

In neighboring Cattaraugus County, 37 new COVID cases were reported Thursday evening. There are currently 345 active cases, 39 people with the virus in the hospital and a seven-day positivity rate of 4%.

To date there have been 3,875 confirmed cases, 78 virus-related deaths and 3,451 recoveries.

And in Warren County, three new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths were reported. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 2,048 total cases in the county and 95 deaths as of Friday.

There were 27 new cases and four deaths reported during the first five days of the month.

There was one additional COVID-positive patient (four, up from three) receiving treatment at Warren General Hospital in Friday’s report. None of those patients were on ventilators nor in intensive care.

So far, 901 county residents have been fully vaccinated, according to the department’s vaccine dashboard. Another 1,858 have received one of the two required doses of the current vaccines.

Brian Ferry at the Warren Times Observer contributed to this report.