The Halifax County Health Department today reported an additional death related to COVID-19.

The related death brings the total to 109.

The health department today also reported 13 new positive cases of the virus. The latest cases bring the cumulative total since March of last year to 5,449.

Health Director Bruce Robistow said this afternoon, “I think that people are overreacting to the fact our numbers are down and they’re becoming complacent in regard to getting to the finish line. The weather is nice, the numbers are good, but COVID is not done. In order to reach the governor’s optimistic goals, it is vital that all citizens get vaccinated as soon as possible so that we can get 70 percent of the population vaccinated so we can reach herd immunity.”

On Wednesday Governor Roy Cooper announced with stable trends and continued vaccination success, the state expects to lift mandatory social distancing, capacity, and mass gathering restrictions by June 1. The governor plans to issue an executive order next week outlining safety restrictions for the month of May.

According to numbers released by the health department Wednesday, 16,256 people in the county are at least partially vaccinated — 32.5 percent of the population — and 13,162 are fully vaccinated — 26.3 percent. “We’re pretty much halfway there,” Robistow said.

In Northampton County the health department reported Thursday there were 1,810 total positive cases of which 1,713 have recovered. There were 29 active cases. There have been 68 related deaths.