For some reason, information from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services about people who have died from COVID-19 has been difficult to obtain.

The 29 Republican state senators have asked Gov. Roy Cooper for more information about COVID-19 deaths, such as the age of the people who died and if they had underlying health problems.

The Rhino Times has obtained that information about the first 13 deaths in Guilford County and listed below are the race, sex and age of those 13 people.

Black Female age 77

White Female age 82

White Male age 87

Black Male age 74

Black Female age 85

White Male age 89

White Male age 85

White Male age 71

Black Male age 48

White Female age 78

White Male age 65

White Male age 83

Black Male age 56

The 65-year-old white male who died has the cause of death as “suspected COVID-19.” It also notes that he had an “Acute Kidney injury.”

The death certificate for the 78-year-old white female states the cause of death as “Acute respiratory failure likely due to COVID infection.”

For the 83-year-old white male, one cause of death is “pneumonia due to suspected coronavirus.”

The death certificate for the 74-year-old white male notes that he had “end-stage renal disease” and “diabetes.”

The average age of the first 13 people who died in Guilford County is 75.3.

In other areas it has been reported that the percentage of African Americans dying from COVID-19 was much higher than the percentage of African Americans in the general population.

That has not been the case in Guilford County. Out of 13 deaths, eight are white and five are African American. According to the US Census Bureau, the population in Guilford County is 56 percent white and 35 percent African American.

The percentage of white people who have died from COVID-19 is 61.5 percent and the percentage of black people who have died is 38.4. So the percentage for both whites and blacks is slightly higher than the percentage in the general population.

The average age of those 13 who died in Guilford County from COVID-19 is 75.3.