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“We cannot ignore the magnitude of this death,” Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said of the island’s 100th coronavirus-related fatality, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020.

“We cannot ignore the magnitude of this death,” Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said of the island’s 100th coronavirus-related fatality, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. (U.S. Navy)

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The U.S. territory of Guam reached has reached yet another sobering coronavirus milestone: 100 deaths. A 58-year-old man died Tuesday afternoon at Guam Memorial Hospital, becoming the island’s 100th virus-related fatality. A statement from the office of Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said the patient had underlying health conditions and tested positive upon admission to the hospital on Oct. 18.

“At the beginning of this pandemic, the models projected we would lose hundreds of lives to COVID-19,” Guerrero said in the statement, using the name of the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. “While we are thankful that that model did not become our reality, we cannot ignore the magnitude of this death.”

Early Tuesday, the virus claimed the island’s 99th patient, a 73-year-old man who also died at Guam Memorial Hospital, where he’d been battling the virus since Nov. 7.

“Wear your mask, social distance, and wash your hands – these simple actions can save countless lives,” Guerrero urged island residents in a statement announcing that death.

As of Wednesday evening, Guam had recorded a pandemic total of 6,346 coronavirus infections, 315 of which are classified as U.S. service members, according to a statement from the island’s Joint Information Center.

More than 1,900 of those cases are active and in isolation, the statement said. Guam has a population of about 160,000.

news@stripes.com Twitter: @StarsAndStripes

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