Tuesday, December 08, 2020

Northeast Health District Reaches Record High Of COVID-19 Cases; Quarter Of Area Hospital Patients Have Disease

***Two Deaths From Disease Recorded***

The Northeast Health District on Monday added 255 COVID-19 cases based on molecular tests and 22 cases based on antigen tests. The District also added two deaths attributed to the disease, and area hospitals reported that a quarter of their patients have COVID-19.

With the addition of the 255 confirmed COVID-19 cases based on molecular tests, the seven-day rolling average of added cases increased to 227.9 on Monday from 208.6 on Sunday.

That rolling average–227.9–is the highest ever in the 10-county Northeast Health District. The previous high had been 227.3 on Sept. 6.

Each county in the district added at least three cases, with Oconee County adding 20 and Clarke County adding 45.

The District also added 22 cases based on antigen tests, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases based on that test dropped just slightly from 57.3 on Sunday to 57.1 on Monday.

Oconee County added two cases based on the antigen test, and Clarke County lost a case. The seven-day rolling average of added cases based on both tests combined increased to 17.0 in Oconee County from 16.4 on Sunday and to 64.9 from 64.0 in Clarke County.

The deaths were of an 80-year-old female in Barrow County with a chronic condition and of an 88-year-old female in Elbert County without a chronic condition.

Barrow County now has 59 deaths attributed to COVID-19, and Elbert County has 22. The Northeast Health District has 361.

The Daily Status Report did not list any additional “probable deaths” from the disease in the Monday Daily Status Report.

Hospital, Long-Term Care Data

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 (150) increased by 10 from the day before, that the number of ICU beds in use (65) decreased by two from the day before, and that the number of adult ventilators in use (30) increased by one from the day before.

The number of COVID-19 patients is the highest is has been since these data first were reported on July 1. The percentage of patients that are labeled COVID-19 patients increased from 22.2 on Sunday to 24.5 on Monday, the highest that figure has been going back to July 1.

In its Long-Term Care Facility Report on Monday, the Department of Community Health reported nine new resident cases of COVID-19 at long-term care facilities in the Northeast Health District.

Seven of those were at PruittHealth Athens Heritage nursing home in Clarke County, and the others were at homes in Greene and Walton counties.

The Department of Community Health also listed eight new COVID-19 positive staff at long-term care facilities in the Northeast Health District. Three of those cases were at PruittHealth Athens Heritage nursing home, and one was at The Oaks Athens Skilled Nursing, both in Clarke County.

The other cases were at homes in Elbert, Greene, and Jackson counties.

State Data

The Daily Status Report added 4,875 new COVID-19 cases across the state based on the molecular test, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases based on this test increased to 4,837.1, the highest level ever.

The Daily Status Report also listed 625 new cases based on antigen rapid tests, which have been reported only since Nov. 3. The seven-day rolling average of added cases based on this test increased to 1,351.1 on Monday from 1,344.1 on Sunday. The new average is the highest ever recorded as well.

The stated added 37 deaths attributed to COVID-19 on Monday, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths increased to 34.4 on Monday from 29.1 on Sunday.

The total number of deaths from the disease in the state broke 9,000 on Monday and now stands at 9,007.

Twenty-five of those deaths were in the last 14 days, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths dated by occurrence also increased on Monday.

The Department of Public Health eliminated a death previously recorded for May 8 from its list of deaths attributed to COVID-19.

The Daily Status Report listed nine “probable deaths” from the disease on Monday, and the seven-day rolling average of added “probable deaths” dropped to 24.3 from 24.4 on Sunday.

Across the state, the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Monday that the number of COVID-19 patients (2,502) increased from the day before, the number of ICU beds in use (2,460) increased from the day before, and the number of adult ventilators in use (871) increased from the day before.

The number of COVID-19 patients is the highest it has been since Aug. 20.

The Department of Community Health listed 662 long-term care facilities across the state with COVID-19 among their residents and/or staff on Monday, down from 666 on Friday, with the last Long-Term Care Facility Report was released.

The decline is a methodological error, as facilities are not supposed to stop filing a report once they have had a case of COVID-19.

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. Data for Oconee and Clarke County are shown in the insert in Chart 1.

Chart 3 shows data for Region E of GEMA, which consists of the 10 counties in the Northeast Health District plus Franklin and Hart counties.

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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