Clarke County added four cases of COVID-19 in the Daily Status Report released by the Department of Public Health at 1 p.m. on Sunday, and the whole 10-county Northeast Health District added 15 cases.
The seven-day rolling average of cases added in the District increased from 22.9 cases per day on Saturday to 25.3 on Sunday. Oconee County did not add any new cases on Sunday, and its total stands at 103 cases since the state began monitoring the disease back in March.
No new COVID-19 deaths were added in the Northeast Health District in the 24-hour-period ending at 1 p.m. on Sunday, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths attributed to the disease remained 1.6
The Department of Community Health did not release a new Long-Term Care Facility report on Saturday.
The Georgia Emergency Management Agency Situation Report on Saturday listed 24 Critical Care Hospital beds available at area hospitals, up from 19 on Friday.
Across the state, the number of COVID-19 cases increased by 706 on Sunday, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases increased from 712.1 on Saturday to 775.3 on Sunday.
The Daily Status Report listed 13 new deaths in Georgia attributed to COVID-19 on Sunday, and the seven-day rolling average of deaths per day on Sunday was 31.1, down from 31.3 on Saturday.
The Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped from 889 on Friday to 848 on Sunday and that the number of available ventilators increased by 22.
An examination of the Department of Public Health data on deaths attributed to the disease indicates that deaths clearly have declined from a peak on April 21 and 22 but have now leveled out with little indication of further decline on the horizon.
Recording Deaths
The Department of Public Health, since the beginning of the Daily Status Report, has released a cumulative number of reported deaths each day.
By subtracting the number from the previous day, it is possible to see the number of newly added cases each day. I have been make that calculation since the beginning of the reports in March.
The Department of Public Health now presents each day a chart showing deaths dated not by when they are reported to the Department of Public Health but by when the death actually occurs.
This number is hidden behind a chart in the Daily Status Report. By sliding the cursor across the chart, it is possible to see each day the raw data behind the chart.
The Sunday Daily Status Report listed 13 new deaths, but, by comparing the data from Saturday with the data from Sunday, it is possible to see that only seven of those deaths occurred in the last 14 days.
The other seven cases were dated further back in time, one as far back as April 24.
Final Chart Explained
In the final chart at the bottom of this post, I have calculated seven-day rolling averages based on the date the death is announced in the Daily Status Report and the date that the Department of Public Health lists the death as occurring.
The redating of the deaths smooths out the seven-day average and pushes cases back further in time, but the two lines are more similar than dissimilar.
The data in the last 14 days behind the chart are labeled as incomplete by the Department of Public Health, as it expects more cases to be added in coming days and weeks.
Even with that caveat, there is more leveling than flattening in the days after May 10, the cutoff point in the Department of Public Health designation.
And the seven-day average of new cases, which has been a good indicator of deaths in the past, shows evidence of flattening and even a slight increase.
The number of cases added each day is in part a reflection of testing, which has been expanding in the state.
The number of deaths is a better indicator of the status of the disease, though clearly not the only one.
Charts
All five of the charts below are based on data from the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report and have been updated to include data from the 1 p.m. Daily Status Report on Sunday.
The first two charts show data for the 10-county Northeast Health District, while the remaining charts show data for the whole state of Georgia.
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| Chart 1 (Click To Enlarge) |
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| Chart 2 (Click To Enlarge) |
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| Chart 3 (Click To Enlarge) |
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| Chart 4 (Click To Enlarge) |
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| Chart 5 (Click To Enlarge) |
2 comments:
Lee, appreciate you reporting on statewide deaths declining since April, but deaths in Oconee were still 0 in April and that number is now at 5. Clearly, Oconee County's deaths have been on the rise, particularly in mid-May.
Michael Prochaska
Michael,
I have reported on all five of Oconee's deaths. As you write, they have been in recent weeks. The statewide figures are going to mask trends in the opposite direction in specific settings.
Lee
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