Newton County Chair Keith Ellis proclaimed Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, to be Suicide Prevention Awareness Day during an event on the Covington Square Thursday morning.

An estimated 4.8 million Americans are survivors of a suicide of a friend, family member or loved one, with 42,000 deaths annually from suicide, according to View Point Health.

Suicide is the eleventh overall leading cause of death in Georgia and the third leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-olds in Georgia. According to Ellis, Newton County has the third highest suicide rate in Georgia.

“When we were first given word that three counties in the state have high suicide rate, I was really disturbed that Newton County was one of them,” Ellis said.

Ellis read the proclamation and presented it to View Point Health CEO Jennifer Hubbard with around a dozen others gathered on the Square.