Mayor confirms second virus death is city resident

Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka confirmed the second Lorain County fatality from coronavirus is a city resident.

Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka has confirmed March 31 that the second Lorain County fatality from novel coronavirus is an Avon Lake woman.

“I am sorry to inform you that an 82-year-old female went to the hospital and, while she was being tested, died from the virus,” Zilka wrote in a statement. “Our hearts go out to her family.”

A second 42-year-old female also tested positive for COVID-19 and is being treated at home, he said.

Zilka said he was informed her case appears to be mild.

The city now has 14 confirmed cases of coronavirus and Zilka is encouraging residents to continue following guidelines released by local and state health officials.

In his weekly video update to the community released March 30, he said the city is doing everything it can to get the most accurate numbers possible.

With limited testing available, Zilka said the number of confirmed cases likely will continue to rise as more people are tested.

In protecting the community, Avon Lake has closed playgrounds, tennis courts, basketball courts, baseball fields and similar recreation facilities in order to limit community spread.

Federal government models released by Dr. Anthony Fauci of the White House’s coronavirus task force indicated up to 200,000 Americans could die from the virus.

“We’re trying to be really strict here because the number 200,000 is very sobering and the number of up to 2.2 million if we did nothing,” Zilka said. “Those are numbers that are very frightening.

“... We know that there are more people out there who may have the disease, but based on the limited amount of testing and the crunch on the health care system, they’re not going through what we would consider the normal channel. So, I think that’s very important to keep in mind.”

The mayor compared the numbers to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

“That’s a number that’s going to be going up, not necessarily down in the next few weeks,” he said. “But that’s just an index. We know that we have to comply with the social distancing of six feet or more.

“And that’s why we’ve had to take action on doing some pretty draconian things.”

Zilka added that Lorain County Health Commissioner Dave Covell cautioned this week against releasing totals based on zip codes and establishing “hot spots” or elevated areas of risk that would contribute to a false sense of security.

Covell said April is crucial in slowing the spread and flattening the curve.

“If we’re successful, we can delay the onset of this illness so that our health care systems will not get overrun,” he said. “We’ve seen this in other countries. We’ve seen it in our own country and other states.

“Ohio is very prepared. We’ve locked down. We’ve done a lot of different methods to try to get this virus to slow down. Now is the time. I’m asking all of you. Please stay home. Avoid any kind of contact. Isolation is really important.”