Marshall County Coroner's Office sees increase in deaths for 2020

Marshall County Coroner's Office sees increase in deaths for 2020

170- thousand people.

New information - the marshall county coroner tells us that his office saw twenty-five percent more deaths in 2020 compared to 2019.

It's not just due to coronavirus.

Waay31s sierra phillips is live in marshall county.

Sierra, what is causing this rise in deaths?

In 2020 -the marshall county coroners officer responded to 5 more cases a month!

Some of those causes of death are unclear right now-- but one of the most surprising comes from a spike in homicides!

Nugent- "last year we had 2 homicides, this year we had 11" that's a more than 5 times increase in homicides for marshall county from 2019 to 2020.

For the coroners office, that means more investigations and more space taken in their refrigeration system.

Nugent- "often times we need to hold that individual to make sure we know what occurred at that scene."

Nugent tells me in 2019 they responded to around 165 deaths and in 2020 they responded to around 220!

Some of those could be coronavirus related-- but nugent says it'll take time to be sure.

Nugent- " a lot of time what we're seeing is people that are home and they don't have positive tests and they didn't go to the doctor, they refused to go to the doctor."

That's not testing that the coroners office can do on scene, they have to wait on results from the alabama department of public health to be sure.

The coroner's office and the marshall county commission worked together to secure cares act funding to add a new refrigeration system for bodies just last month.

Right now they can hold 14 instead of the previous .... just 2.

Reporting live in guntersville, sierra phillips, waay31 news.