Monday, December 21, 2020

Northeast Health District Adds Two Deaths From COVID-19, Both In Oconee County, And 287 New COVID-19 Cases

***Oconee County Test Positivity Rate Rising Sharply***

The Northeast Health District added 287 COVID-19 cases on Monday when the Department of Public Health released its Daily Status Report and added two deaths from the disease–both in Oconee County.

The seven-day rolling average of added cases and deaths both increased with the release of the Monday Report.

The two Oconee County deaths were of a 51-year-old male without a chronic condition and of an 89-year-old male, also without a chronic condition.

The deaths bring to 37 the number attributed to COVID-19 in the county and to 385 the number of COVID-19 death in the 10-county Northeast Health District.

The seven-day rolling average of added deaths from COVID-19 increased from 1.9 on Sunday to 2.0 on Monday.

Cases, Positivity Rates

The Department of Public Health listed 264 COVID-19 cases confirmed via molecular tests and an additional 23 cases identified through molecular tests. The seven-day rolling average of added cases based on a combination of the results of the two tests increased from 387.1 on Sunday to 399.3 on Monday.

Oconee County added 21 cases based on the two tests on Monday, and Clarke County added 52. The seven-day rolling average of added cases in Oconee increased to 32.7 on Monday from 31.4 on Sunday. In Clarke County, the seven-day rolling average increased to 71.0 from 67.1.

The bulk of the cases on Monday and on most days are based on molecular tests. On Monday, all of the 21 cases in Oconee County were confirmed via molecular tests, and in Clarke County, 50 of the 52 cases were from molecular tests.

The Department of Public Health only reports positivity rates for the molecular tests, and those rates have been increasing. Test results lag by several days.

In Oconee County, the positivity rate for tests completed last Thursday was 22.7 percent, compared with 8.5 percent a week earlier. And the seven-day rolling average on Dec. 17 (last Thursday) was 18.3 percent, compared with 11.3 a week earlier.

The Oconee County seven-day rolling average positivity rate on Dec. 17 was considerably higher than the state rate on that date of 14.4 percent.

In Clarke County, the changes from Dec. 10 to Dec. 17 were much less and the positivity rates were lower. Molecular tests completed on Dec. 10 had a positivity rate of 7.9, and that increased to 9.3 a week later. The seven-day rolling average of positivity rates was 9.5 percent on Dec. 10, and that increased to 11.0 percent on Dec. 17.

School, Nursing Home, Hospital Reports

Oconee County schools ended the fall term on Friday, but Malcom Bridge Middle School Principal Mike Eddy sent an email to parents of students at the school at 6:04 p.m. on Monday saying “On Dec. 21, 2020, we were alerted that two individuals in our school tested positive for COVID-19.”

Eddy had sent a similar message on Sunday, saying “On Dec. 20, 2020, we were alerted that two individuals in our school tested positive for COVID-19.”

The Department of Community Health, in its Long-Term Care Facility Report on Monday, listed five new COVID-19 Positive Residents and one new case of the disease among staff at the Northeast Health District’s long-term care homes.

One of the resident cases was at The Oaks–Athens Skilled Nursing in Clarke County, three cases were at Madison Health and Rehabilitation nursing home in Morgan County, and the final resident case was at The Gardens of Social Circle II personal care home in Walton County.

The staff case was at Park Place Nursing Facility in Walton County.

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Monday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (156) decreased by one from the day before, that the number of ICU beds in use (65) decreased by one from the day before, and that the number of adult ventilators in use (33) increased by one from the day before.

The local data contrast with the statewide data. Across the state, the number of COVID-19 patients on Monday was up by 115 from the day before, the number of ICU beds in use was up by 21, and the number of adult ventilators in use was up by two from Sunday.

State Data

Across the state on Monday, the Daily Status Report added 3,121 new cases based on molecular tests and 555 cases based on antigen tests. The combined 3,676 new cases resulted in a seven-day rolling average of 6,657.9 added cases, down from 6,684.7 on Sunday.

The state added 16 deaths from the disease in the Monday Daily Status Report, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths increased to 34.1 on Monday from 33.7 on Sunday.

Eight of the added deaths occurred in the last 14 days. The Daily Status Report listed no new “probable deaths” from the disease.

The Department of Community Health in its Long-Term Care Facility Report on Monday said that 678 facilities across the state have had cases of COVID-19 among their residents and/or staff, up from 674 when the Department issued its last report on Friday.

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 Monday.

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 on the left and for the entire District on the right.

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

Click any chart to enlarge it.

Chart 1
Chart 2
Chart 3
Chart 4
Chart 5

 

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