Friday, November 06, 2020

Department of Public Health Reports Four Deaths, 187 New COVID-19 Cases In Northeast Health District

***Oconee County Schools Reports Increase In Active Quarantines***

The Northeast Health District added four deaths from COVID-19, 109 confirmed cases of the disease based on molecular tests, and 78 cases based on antigen tests with the release of the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Friday.

The four deaths were of a female in Oconee County with chronic conditions listed as 90 plus years in age, a 68-year-old female in Barrow County without a chronic condition, an 82-year-old female in Barrow County without a known chronic condition, and a 78-year-old female in Elbert County with a chronic condition.

Oconee County now has 32 deaths attributed to COVID-19 and the third-highest death rate per population in the 10-county Northeast Health District. Barrow County has 54 deaths and Elbert has 13.

The seven-day rolling average of added deaths held steady at 1.4, as the District had added four deaths on Friday a week ago.

The Department of Community Health also listed one death from COVID-19 in its Friday Long-Term Care Facility Report. The death was at Magnolia Estates of Oconee, 1641 Virgil Langford Road, south of SR 316. It is the third death reported at the Oconee County facility.

The Oconee County death in the Department of Community Health report could be a duplicate with the death in the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report, but there rarely is correspondence between these two reports.

The Department of Community Health also listed four new COVID-19 cases among staff at the 38 facilities in the Northeast Health District covered by its report. One was at Avery Place personal care home in Clarke County, and the others were at facilities in Elbert, Greene and Jackson counties.

The 109 confirmed cases based on molecular tests pushed up the seven-day rolling average of added cases from that test to 94.1. The Department of Public Health has reported antigen tests outcomes only starting on Tuesday. The 78 positive antigen tests reported on Friday compared with 31 on Thursday.

Every county in the Northeast Health District except Oconee County added cases from molecular tests on Friday. Clarke County added 41.

Oconee County had lost two cases on Friday of last week, and the seven day rolling-average of added cases in both Oconee and Clarke counties increased on Friday.

Oconee County added five cases based on antigen tests and Clarke County added 22.

The total added cases, based on the two tests, was 187 in the District, five in Oconee County, and 63 in Clarke County.

(NOTE: The original version of this report listed a second death in the Friday Long-Term Care Facility Report, but that death had been included in the Wednesday Report. I apologize for the error.)

School, Hospital Reports

Oconee County Schools at 4:07 p.m. on Friday reported five Active COVID-19 Cases in the system’s 11 schools, down from six a week earlier, and 26 Active Quarantines Due to Close Contact, up from 19 a week earlier.

Oconee County Schools does not report any details of the cases, but parents this week forwarded me email message they had received regarding an Active Case at Malcom Bridge Middle School (Nov. 1) and regarding an Active Case at Oconee County High School (Nov. 2).

At 7:23 p.m. on Friday parents at Malcom Bridge Middle School received a message about another case at the school. It isn’t possible to know if that is a case covered by the 4:07 p.m. report or will be included in next week’s tally.

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Friday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (73) increased by three from the day before, that the number of ICU beds in use (60) increased by one from the day before, and that the number of adult ventilators in use (26) increased by one from the day before.

Friday was the sixth day in a row that the number of COVID-19 patients had increased at area hospitals.

State Data

Across the state, the Department of Public Health listed 34 new deaths from COVID-19 in the Daily Status Report on Friday, with 30 of them occurring in the last 14 days.

The seven-day rolling average of added deaths based on date of report was 30.3, down from 30.4 the day before, but the seven-day rolling average of added deaths based on date of occurrence increased, as it has the last four days.

The state eliminated four deaths from its records, including one on May 25.

The Daily Status Report added 1,797 new cases based on molecular tests, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases increased to 1,758.6 from1,721.6 on Thursday.

The Daily Status Report also listed 1,114 new COVID-19 cases based on antigen tests.

Across the state, the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Friday that the number of COVID-19 patients (1,511) increased by 77 from the day before, the number of ICU beds in use (2,407) increased by four from the day before, and the number of adult ventilators in use (797) decreased by 78 from the day before.

The Department of Community Health listed 650 long-term care facilities in the state with COVID-19 cases among their residents and/or staff on Friday, up from 647 when the Department last released its Long-Term Care Facility Report on Wednesday.

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 Friday.

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 shows data for Oconee and Clarke counties in the main chart and data from Oconee County Schools in the insert.

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

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