Butler County hit 600 deaths related to COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

The grim milestone comes days after Butler Health System marked one year of administering its first COVID-19 vaccination.

The system reported over the weekend that it has administered 162,000 doses among adults and children since it first started vaccinating county residents on Dec. 18, 2020.

The county surpassed 500 COVID-related deaths Oct. 29.

Butler County has a total of 31,478 reported cases of COVID-19, with 22,308 of those confirmed. The state has 1,913,959 reported cases, and a total of 35,783 COVID-related deaths.

Butler Memorial Hospital reported one death Dec. 16, two deaths Dec. 18 and one death Dec. 19.

Dr. John Love, infectious disease medical director for BHS, said that while data is still being gathered in real time, the omicron variant of COVID-19 is more contagious than previous variants.

Data on omicron indicates that vaccinated individuals are more readily infected with omicron if they have not had a booster. Love said that this may change the process of risk assessment for many.

In an October interview regarding the 500 deaths reported in Butler County, Butler Health System chief nursing officer Karen Allen said about 85% to 90% of the patients who land in the hospital's ICU are unvaccinated, and many recently are under the age of 60. She said individuals age 65 and up have the highest vaccination rates in Butler County, so the majority of ICU patients are from younger demographics.

Butler Health System urges all eligible members of the community to get vaccinated, and to get booster doses if previously vaccinated.