Saturday, July 11, 2020

Northeast Health District Adds 110 New COVID-19 Cases And Five Deaths From The Virus

***Oconee County Lists Second COVID-19 Death In Two Days***

The Northeast Health District recorded 110 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and five new deaths attributed to the disease on Saturday, pushing up the seven-day rolling average of both cases and deaths for the District.

One of the deaths was in Oconee County and was the second death in two days in the county included in the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report. Oconee County now has 13 deaths from the disease, and Clarke County has 15.

Deaths also were added on Saturday in Barrow County (current total of 27), Greene County (total of 10), Jackson County (total of 12), and Walton County (total of 29).

Elbert and Morgan counties still have not recorded a death from the disease, and Madison has four and Oglethorpe has seven.

The Oconee County death was of a female aged 90 or more without a chronic condition.

The Barrow County death was of an 87-year-old male with a chronic condition. The Greene County death was of an 85-year-old male without a known chronic condition. The Jackson County death was of a female with a chronic condition labeled as 90 plus in age. And the Walton County death was of an 85-year-old male without a known chronic condition.

The Department of Community Health has reported four deaths at a Jackson County nursing home since June 30 that had not appeared in the Department of Public Health records. The death reported by the Department of Public Health on Saturday might reduce that number of unreported deaths to three.

The five deaths in the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Saturday push the seven-day rolling average of deaths in the Northeast Health District to 1.3 from 0.6 on Friday.

The 110 confirmed COVID-19 cases added on Saturday increase the seven-day rolling average of added cases to 97.7, the highest average ever recorded. The average had been 93.9 on Friday.

Oconee County added three cases on Saturday, and Clarke County added 28.

The Department of Community Health did not release a report on Saturday, but the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, in its Situation Report COVID-19 for Saturday, reported six Critical Care Beds available at area hospitals, down from 10 on Friday.

State Data

The Daily Status Report listed 3,190 new confirmed COVID-19 cases across the state on Saturday, and the seven-day rolling average jumped above 3,000 cases per day (3,011.7) for the first time ever.

The Daily Status Report listed 31 deaths attributed to COVID-19, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths increased to 19.9 from 15.6 on Friday.

The 31 deaths include 23 in the last 14 days, and the seven-day rolling average of deaths listed by date of occurrence also increased on Saturday.

The Department of Public Health removed one case from its data file, so the actual number of added deaths was 32, not 31.

It seems likely the removal and additional death was a redating of a death from June 3 to June 2, but it is not possible know for certain given the data released.

Hospitalizations

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Saturday 2,446 Confirmed COVID-19 Hospitalizations across the state, up by three from Friday but the highest number recorded back through May 1, when the Agency first began releasing these data.

The number of ventilators is use increased from 990 on Friday to 1,017, also the highest number since ventilator use data were first released by the Agency on May 11.

Gov. Brian Kemp, on May 19, issued a press release touting the drop in hospitalizations to 1,125 on May 12 saying it was the “lowest number of COVID-19 positive patients hospitalized since hospitals started reporting data to the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS) on April 8.”

The number dropped to 783 on June 7 before it begin increasing.

Using Facebook Messenger, I asked GEMA on Friday for access to the hospitalizations and ventilator use data for Region E, which includes the Northeast Health District plus two others counties, and for historical data going back to April 8.

I was told that the data are not being released at the regional level because of “concerns with protecting the privacy of the patients” and that GEMA does not have the historical data.

The person handling the social media account told me the hospitalization data are provided to GEMA by the Georgia Department of Public Health, “which, in turn, receives it from the hospitals,” and that I should contact the Department of Public Health with my question.

I sent an email on Saturday to the local Northeast Health District Office asking for assistance.

Charts

Charts 1 through 5 below are based on data from the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report and have been updated based on the 2:50 p.m. release of that report on Saturday.

Chart 6 is based on data from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency Situation Report and has been updated with the Saturday afternoon release of that report.

Charts 1 and 2 present data for the Northeast Health District.

Chart 3 presents data for Oconee and Clarke counties, two of the 10 counties in the District. It also includes data released periodically from the University of Georgia on COVID-19 cases it has recorded. Not all of those are in Clarke County, according to the university.

Charts 4 through 6 are for the state of Georgia as a whole.

Chart 1 (Click To Enlarge)

Chart 2 (Click To Enlarge)

Chart 3 (Click To Enlarge)

Chart 4 (Click To Enlarge)

Chart 5 (Click To Enlarge)

Chart 6 (Click To Enlarge)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It was reported on the radio today that the Covid area of Piedmont is approaching capacity, but the ICU still has capacity. I think this reflects the younger age of the group currently being affected the most. A nurse said that affected people say they did not think they would get so sick. Unfortunately, the public health messages are not being taken seriously.

Jeanne Barsanti