Second Oconee County Long-Term Care Facility Joins Department Of Public Health List Of COVID-19 Positive Facilities

***Disease Outbreak At Winder Facility Reported***

The Georgia Department of Public Health added a second Oconee County facility to its Long-Term Care Facility COVID-19 Report late on Wednesday after a staff member tested positive for the disease.

That same report listed a Barrow County nursing home with 74 out of 115 residents and 23 staff members as COVID-19 Positive. On Tuesday, that same facility, Winder Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, had listed 15 COVID-19 Positive residents and 23 COVID Positive Staff.

The Winder facility listed six COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, up from the one reported on Tuesday.

St. Mary’s Highland Hill Village, 1660 Jennings Mill Road, on the Oconee and Clarke County border, joins another Oconee County facility on the Long-Term Care Facility COVID-19 Report. St. Mary’s reports 134 residents, none of whom are designated as COVID-19 Positive.

High Shoals Health and Rehabilitation, 3450 New High Shoals Road in North High Shoals, reported the same number of COVID-19 Positive Residents (12) and staff (2) on Wednesday as it did on Tuesday.

It also reported the single death, which has not been reflected for Oconee County in the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report.

Daily Status Report

The Daily Status Report for noon on Thursday listed only eight new cases of confirmed COVID-19 for the 10-county Northeast Health District, down from the 51 listed on Wednesday. Neither Clarke County nor Oconee County added cases, and the seven-day rolling average for the region fell from 27.1 to 23.6.

The noon Thursday Department of Public Health Daily Status Report listed the same number of deaths in the Northeast Health District, 35, as the day before, despite the listing of five additional deaths in the Long-Term Care Facility COVID-19 Report.

Barrow County only has five deaths listed in the Daily Status Report for Thursday, despite the list of six COVID-19 deaths at the Winder nursing home.

Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry on Thursday listed three new Active COVID-19 cases for the county, based on data provided by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

Berry reported three new cases on Wednesday as well, and the total number of active cases is 24, as cases are removed after 21 days on the list.

State Data

The Daily Status Report for 11:25 on Thursday listed 698 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state of Georgia, down from 1,002 added on Wednesday. The total now stands at 31,260.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases dropped from 755.4 on Wednesday to 746.7 on Thursday.

The Daily Status Report also added 30 COVID-19 deaths, down from 47 on Wednesday, with the total now standing at 1,335.

The seven-day rolling average of added deaths dropped from 36.7 on Wednesday to 33.1 on Thursday.

The Department of Public Health has begun dating deaths not based on when they are reported but on when the death actually occurred. Each Daily Status Report contains a chart based on those data.

Each day, the Daily Status Report indicates that the chart is incomplete and more cases will be added for the most recent 14 days.

The data behind the chart used on Thursday shows that the Department of Public Health reported 316 deaths occurring in the last 14 days.

In the 14 days ending on Wednesday, the Department of Public Health recorded 312 COVID-19 deaths.

In the 14 days ending on Monday, the Daily Status Report recorded 283 deaths.

The Department of Public Health reported adding 13,166 tests with its noon Daily Status Report on Thursday. In the last week, it added 73,513 tests.

As the number of tests have been added, the percentage of those tests producing a positive reading (confirmed COVID-19 verdict) has dropped from 16.1 a week ago to 14.4 on Thursday.

The percentage of confirmed cases that have resulted in a death has remained relatively steady, standing at 4.3 a week ago and on Thursday.

Donations Sought

On Tuesday, Sarah R. Peck, clinic manager for the Clarke County Health Department and spokesperson for the Northeast Health District, announced that Northeast Health District has begun serving as a coordination point for donations of personal protective equipment (PPE) from the community.

Donated items will be distributed to local healthcare and long-term care facilities that may be experiencing difficulties obtaining these items, according to the news release from Peck.

The District is accepting N-95 respirators, surgical masks, cloth face coverings, eye protection (face shields/goggles/glasses), gowns, gloves (latex free), disinfectant wipes, soe covers, and hand sanitizer.

Persons interested in donating should contact Elisabeth Wilson at 706-286-4684 or elisabeth.wilson@dph.ga.gov with questions or to donate supplies, according to the release.

Charts

The charts below summarize the data both for the Northeast Health District and for the state.

Chart 1 (Click To Enlarge)

Chart 2 (Click To Enlarge)

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Chart 5 (Click To Enlarge)