Three new deaths due to COVID-19 — one reported on Christmas Day and two on Thursday — were reported by the Cattaraugus County Health Department.

The 41st death reported Friday was a 55-year-old man who developed respiratory failure. The deaths of a 98-year-old woman and a 94-year-old man were the 39th and 40th deaths, according to the health department.

A total of 53 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Thursday, while 48 new cases were reported on Christmas Day, for 101 cases in two days. As of Friday, there were 576 active COVID-19 cases in the county — an increase of 47 over the day before — with 41 residents hospitalized and more than 1,000 in quarantine either because of infection or suspected exposure to the virus or because of travel.

There have been 2,252 cases of COVID-19 in the county since the beginning of the pandemic, while 1,635 residents have recovered from the virus.

The county’s seven-day rate of positivity in testing for the virus was 6.6%, down slightly from 6.7% the day before.