Northeast Health District Sets New Record For Added Confirmed COVID-19 Cases

***Daily Status Report Lists 200 New Cases***

The Northeast Health District added a record number 200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with the Thursday release of the Department of Public Health’s Daily Status Report.

Each of the 10 counties in the District added cases. Oconee County added eight cases and Clarke County added 50.

The seven-day rolling average of added cases increased to 129.1, tied with the record average set on July 19.

The Northeast Health District did not add any new deaths in the Daily Status Report, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths remained at 1.0

The Department of Community Health, in its Thursday Long-Term Care Facility Report, listed one new death in the 10-county District, at St. Gabriel of Athens personal care home, 2040 Resurgence Drive off Virgil Langford Road in Oconee County.

Deaths at long-term care facilities do not always appear in the Daily Status Report for unspecified reasons. At present, for example, at least seven deaths reported since June 29 at a nursing home in Jackson County have never appeared in the Daily Status Report.

The Department of Community Health Thursday report also listed seven new cases of COVID-19 among staff at long-term care facilities in the Northeast Health District, including four new cases at University Nursing and Rehab Center on Epps Bridge Road in Clarke County.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency on Thursday reported that five Critical Care Beds were unused at area hospitals, down from eight in the Wednesday report. Sixty-five are in use.

Anisa Sullivan Jimenez, director of Communications for Oconee County Schools, confirmed on Thursday that three student athletes in the school system have tested positive for COVID-19 since practices began on June 8.

High School Cases

Two of the Oconee County athletes tested positive during "dead week" and “therefore had not come in close contact with any other individuals,” Jimenez said in an email message on Thursday.

Dead week is when students are not allow to conduct conditioning drills, practices, or be involved in competitions on or off the school's campus. This year, dead week was from June 28 to July 4.

“One athlete who tested positive had been in close contact with others, and so as soon as the school system was made aware, every single player and coach on that team was immediately contacted by phone from the school,” Jimenez said in an email message on Thursday.

One student-athlete is still quarantined, she said. Jimenez would not reveal the schools of the three athletes or the sports they play.

The Georgia High School Association office has informed schools that it is “expecting all schools to continue reporting any and all positive COVID-19 cases” since practices were allowed on June 8, listing positive test date, athlete or coach, and sport results.

Jimenez said the three athletes at Oconee County Schools “have been reported” to the Georgia High School Association.

State Data

Across the state of Georgia, 4,286 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were included in the Thursday Daily Status Report, the third highest number reported for a single day.

The seven-day rolling average of added cases increased to 3,616.1.

The Daily Status Reported listed 25 new deaths, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths increased to 36.6. The rolling average has increased each of the last three days.

The addition of the 25 cases is misleading, however, as the Department of Public Health removed 14 deaths from its file for unspecified reasons, so the actual number of added deaths was 39, not 25.

Thirty-two new deaths were listed in the last 14 days, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths based on date of occurrence rather than date of reporting increased on Thursday, as it had on Wednesday and Tuesday.

The Department of Community Health listed 591 long-term care facilities in the state with COVID-19 among its residents and/or staff, up from 587 on Wednesday.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported 3,157 Current Confirmed COVID-19 Hospitalizations, down 22 from a day earlier.

The Agency listed 1,209 ventilators in use in the Thursday report, up from 1,190 on Wednesday.

Charts

Charts 1 to 4 below are based on data from the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report and have been updated to include data from the release of that report at 2:50 p.m. on Thursday.

Chart 5 is based on data from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency Situation Report COVID-19 and has been updated to include data from the late afternoon report on Thursday.

Charts 1 and 2 include data from the 10-county Northeast Health District of the Department of Public Health, which includes Oconee and Clarke counties.

Charts 3 and 4 show data for the entire state of Georgia.

Chart 5 includes in the main chart data for the state of Georgia and, in the inset, data for Region E of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, which includes Oconee and Clarke Counties, the remaining counties in the Northeast Health District, and Franklin and Hart counties.

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)