Wednesday, September 02, 2020

Seven-Day Rolling Averages Of COVID-19 Cases And Deaths In Northeast Health District Climb on Wednesday

***Across The State, Cases Are Declining***

The Northeast Health District added 189 confirmed COVID-19 cases and three deaths attributed to the disease with the release of the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Wednesday.

The seven-day rolling average of added cases in the 10-county district jumped from 159.6 on Tuesday to 165.4 on Wednesday, the highest point that average has ever reached. The previous high had been 160.4 a month ago, on Aug. 2.

While the state as a whole is experiencing a decline in cases, the 10-counties that make up the Northeast Health District are experiencing an unmistakable increase that goes back to Aug. 24, or just after the University of Georgia began its fall session.

Every county except Elbert added cases in the Wednesday Daily Status Report, but Clarke County had 79 of the 189 added cases, and Oconee County added eight.

The University of George released its third COVID-19 Health And Exposure Update on Wednesday, showing 97 Positive COVID-19 tests from its surveillance testing in the last week, up from 32 for the previous week, 186 positive tests at the University Health Center, up from 38 a week earlier, and 126 positive tests at Athens and Local Community sites, up from 33 in the previous week.

The total of 409 positive local tests compares with 103 for the week earlier, and those, at least at some point, should be included in the Clarke County figures, which increased by 521 in the last week.

In addition, the University of Georgia reported 412 positive results from tests “not done by a resource in the Athens, Clarke County community.” That number was 70 for the previous week.

Deaths, Hospitalizations

The three deaths listed in the Wednesday Daily Status Report were of an 80-year-old female in Barrow County without a known chronic condition, of a 67-year-old female in Green County without a known chronic condition, and of a 71-year-old male in Green County without a chronic condition.

The seven-day rolling average of added deaths for the Northeast Health District increased to 2.9 on Wednesday from 2.6 on Tuesday.

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday reported that area hospitals had 82 COVID-19 patients, down from 104 on Tuesday, 63 ICU Beds In Use, up from 61 on Tuesday, and 31 ventilators in use, up from 27 on Tuesday.

The Department of Public Health reported on Wednesday that 17.0 percent of the molecular tests reported electronically to the Department for Oconee County had been positive, up from 5.3 percent on Tuesday. For Clarke County, 14.8 percent of the tests were positive, down from 24.1 on Tuesday.

The Department of Community Health reported on Wednesday an increase of two cases of COVID-19 at a personal care home in Walton County and of one case at a nursing home in Greene County.

The Department of Community Health also reported an additional staff member with COVID-19 at The Oaks Athens Skilled Nursing Home and four additional staff members with the disease at a nursing home in Morgan County.

State Data

Across the state on Wednesday, the Daily Status Report listed 2,021 new COVID-19 cases, and the seven-day rolling average continued its steady decline to 2,070.0.

The drop in reported cases reflects a drop in testing. The seven-day rolling average of added tests was 18,962.3 on Wednesday, the lowest level since July 3.

The percentage of tests that produced a positive verdict was 8.5 on Wednesday, up from 7.7 the day before.

The state added 68 deaths attributed to COVID-19, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths increased to 71.4 from 68.9 on Tuesday.

The Department of Public Health reported that it eliminated six deaths previously recorded from its list of COVID-19 deaths.

The Daily Status Report listed 46 of the new deaths as having occurred in the last 14 days, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths dated by occurrence was stable from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday reported that hospitals across the state had 1,859 COVID-19 patients, down from 1,916 on Tuesday, 2,529 ICU Beds In Use, up from 2,498 on Tuesday, and 1,029 ventilators in use, down from 1,055 on Tuesday.

The Department of Community Health reported that COVID-19 was present among the residents and/or staff of 644 long-term care facilities in the state, up from 640 on Tuesday.

Charts

All 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 release of that report at 2:50 p.m. on Wednesday.

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.

Chart 3 presents data for Oconee and Clarke counties only. The insert in the table contains data for the University of Georgia from its COVID-19 Health And Exposure Updates.

Charts 4 and 5 show data for the entire state of Georgia.

Click on any of the charts to enlarge it.

Chart 1

Chart 2

Chart 3

Chart 4

Chart 5

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The opening of UGA while leaving the bars open is a Governor Kemp disaster in the making. And it is unnecessary. Even our neighboring conservative states like Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina have closed bars in university towns. UGA stated this week they now have over 800 cases, mostly students, with 500 quarantine beds available, for students that cannot return home. The remaining positive students they are sending home which means UGA will be spreading the virus all over the state again, leading to illness and death in more vulnerable populations. And all because Governor Kemp will not allow Athens to close the bars or stop selling alcohol (as was done in Florida).

Jeanne Barsanti

Lee Becker said...
This comment has been removed by the author.