COVID-19 deaths were a major contributing factor for the record number of fatalities in Cook County in 2020. | Adobe Stock
COVID-19 deaths were a major contributing factor for the record number of fatalities in Cook County in 2020. | Adobe Stock
The COVID-19 health crisis is being blamed for a record number of deaths in Cook County during 2020, in addition to many fatalities related to gun violence.
One of those gun-related deaths was that of 18-year-old Nasee Minniefield, who has just graduated high school.
"I really haven't been right since," Nasee's grandmother, Donna Minniefield, told ABC 7 Chicago. "I'm numb, I'm sad, I'm hurting."
Minniefield was one of the many who died from gun violence last year. In total, Cook County saw 875 individuals die from gun violence in 2020, of which 78% were Black.
"That is by far the highest total of gun-related homicides we have ever had. The only time we came anywhere near that was in 1994 when we had 838 homicides due to gun violence," Natalia Derevyanny, spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner's office, told ABC 7 Chicago.
The county saw a total of 16,048 deaths last year, many of which are attributed to the coronavirus. Cook County saw 8,192 individuals die due to the virus. Pandemic stress was also attributed to the homicides in the county from last year.
Shootings and murder also increased by 50% last year.
"In 2020, there were 769 murders, up considerably compared to the 495 murders tallied in 2019," ABC 7 Chicago reported. "As for shootings, the city logged 3,261 last year, a big jump from 2,140 shootings in 2019. The number of shooting victims climbed to 4,033 in 2020, up from 2,598 in 2019."
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