Four Butler Memorial Hospital patients lost their lives this weekend because of the coronavirus.

Their deaths were reflected Monday in Butler Health System's report, which showed a drop in COVID-19 hospitalized patients from 30 to 26.

All but one of those 26 patients had tested positive for the virus. One patient is awaiting test results.

Butler Memorial has four COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit. That is two less than Friday's report.

Monday's report included the addition of four deaths that were reported to the state Department of Health since Friday's report, with one on Thursday, one on Friday and two on Saturday.

Clarion Hospital has returned to low single digits in inpatient levels.

Clarion reported three inpatients on Monday, down from five reported Friday. The hospital has one COVID-19 patient in the ICU. Clarion Hospital has drastically decreased its number of inpatients from when it reported having 14 COVID-19 inpatients in its Jan. 20 report. Also since that time, the hospital has only reported one virus-related death to the Department of Health.

According to Monday's report by the Department of Health, Butler County added 27 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and zero deaths; however, low updates on Mondays have often been reported because of a lag in reporting from the weekend.

Despite this possibility, the county has been trending downward in regard to new cases over the past two weeks, averaging about 58 new confirmed cases per day during that period. That average represents a decrease from the average for the month of January, which is at about 67 new confirmed cases per day.

According to Monday's report, the state added 3,976 new cases and 55 new deaths. The Monday report also listed Sunday's data, which showed 3,934 new cases and 83 new deaths for that day.

Meanwhile, the state continues its vaccination efforts, having administered 680,219 doses statewide as of Monday.

BHS reiterated in its report Monday that it would only be accepting scheduling requests when doses are available, and still will limit availability to health care workers and people ages 75 and older.