Three of the five people who died over the weekend at Butler Memorial Hospital from COVID-19 were not vaccinated and the two that were vaccinated had pre-existing health conditions, according to a hospital official.

Dr. David Rottinghaus, Butler Health System chief medical officer, said only seven of the 44 current COVID-19 patients have been vaccinated. Most patients admitted with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, he said.

“The idea behind the vaccine is to tame this virus and prevent people from getting very ill,” Rottinghaus said. “It's the same story: Vaccinated, good protection. Unvaccinated, poor protection.”

One of the vaccinated people who died was more than 90 years old and had a significant number of other health problems, and the other vaccinated patient had a weakened immune system from chronic medical issues and medication, he said.

“Almost all the vaccinated folks have underlying medical conditions that make them susceptible,” Rottinghaus said of COVID patients. “The rest are unvaccinated, unprotected against the severe effects of the virus. It's hard to understand why they are not getting vaccinated. We're trending with the rest of the country.”

All nine COVID patients in intensive care are not vaccinated, and their ages range from the 50s to the 30s, he said.

According to the state Department of Health, 100,253 county residents among the population of 193,763 are fully vaccinated and 7,242 are partially vaccinated. In addition, 1,856 county residents have received an additional dose since Aug. 13.

Statewide, 6,152,656 people among the population of 12.8 million are fully vaccinated, 6,380,222 are partially vaccinated and 68,251 people have received an additional dose.

The department recently began adding the number of COVID cases among children up to 18 years old to the data posted daily on its website.

Among county children, 5 to 18 years old, a total of 544 have had the virus since Aug. 16 and 209 contracted it between Sept. 8 and Sept. 14.

Among children up to 4 years old, 58 have had the virus since Aug. 16 and 14 contracted it between Sept. 8 and Sept. 14.

Statewide, 23,516 children up to 18 years old have had COVID since Aug. 16 and 8,272 contracted the virus between Sept. 8 and Sept. 14.

Rottinghaus said children comprise a small percentage of the cases, and there is no need to close schools, but face mask and social distancing should be practiced in school.