Wednesday, January 06, 2021

Northeast Health District Adds 14 Deaths From COVID-19; Report Shows Widespread Outbreak Of Virus At Area Long-Term Care Facilities

***Area Hospitals See Slight Drop In Number Of COVID Patients***

The Georgia Department of Public Health added four deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in the Tuesday Status Report along with 681 new cases of the disease.

In addition, the Department of Community Health on Tuesday listed in its Long-Term Care Facility Report 10 new resident deaths, 48 new cases among residents, and 14 new cases among staff of the Northeast Health District’s long-term care facilities.

Included were long-term care facilities in both Clarke and Oconee counties.

The deaths listed in the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report were in Clarke, Barrow, Jackson, and Oglethorpe counties, bringing to 414 the total number of confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the 10-county Northeast Health District. The seven-day rolling average of added confirmed deaths from the disease increased to 1.7 from 1.4 on Monday.

The Clarke County death listed in the Daily Status Report was of an 88-year-old male without a chronic condition. The death brings to 64 the number of deaths in the county attributed to COVID-19.

The other deaths listed in the Daily Status Report were of an 87-year-old male in Barrow County with a chronic condition, of a 73-year-old female in Jackson County without a known chronic condition, and of a 33-year-old female in Oglethorpe County without a chronic condition.

The deaths bring to 67 the number attributed to the disease in Barrow County, 65 the number in Jackson County, and 14 the number in Oglethorpe County.

Four of the 10 deaths listed in the Department of Community Health Long-Term Care Facilities Report were at facilities in Clarke County: One was at The Oaks Athens Skilled Nursing, two were at Silverleaf Alzheimer’s Care of Athens, and one was at University Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

The other six deaths were at Great Oaks personal care home (four) and at Park Place Nursing Facility (two) in Walton County.

The Department of Community Health does not list characteristics of the deceased.

Cases Added

The Northeast Health District’s 681 added cases of COVID-19 in Tuesday’s Daily Status Report resulted in a seven-day rolling average of added cases of 520.3, down from 534.3 on Monday.

Oconee County added 50 cases on Tuesday, and Clarke County added 114. Both numbers were smaller than the additions on Tuesday a week ago, and the seven-day rolling average in Oconee County dropped from 50.3 to 41.3 and in Clarke County from 96.3 to 94.6.

The 48 resident cases since the last Department of Community Health Long-Term Care Facility Report on Dec. 31 included three at St. Gabriel of Athens personal care home off Virgil Langford Road and two at St. Mary’s Highland Hills Village personal care home off Jennings Mill Road, both in Oconee County.

Also included are five cases at Silverleaf Alzheimers Care of Athens and one at The Oaks Athens Skilled Nursing, both in Clarke County. These are where three of the four Clarke County long-term care facility deaths occurred.

Other facilities with newly reported resident cases were in Elbert County (where Nancy Hart Nursing Center reported 18 cases), Greene County, and Walton County (where 12 cases were reported at The Oaks).

The staff cases included two at High Shoals Health and Rehabilitation and one at St. Gabriel of Athens, both in Oconee County.

In Clarke County, Silverleaf Alzheimer’s Care of Athens reported two staff cases and University Nursing and Rehabilitation Center reported one.

Other staff cases were reported at long-term care facilities in Barrow, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, and Walton counties.

Hospital Report, Vaccines

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Tuesday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (287) decreased by two from the day before, the number of ICU beds in use (71) was the same as the day before, and the number of adult ventilators in use (51) was the same as the day before.

Tuesday was the first day that the number of COVID-19 patients had not increased at area hospitals going back to Dec. 23.

Area hospitals have expanded their ICU capacity to handle the demand and now report having 74 beds available, rather than the usual 70.

The GMA data are reported as being current as of the beginning of the day on Tuesday. The data are for Region E of GEMA, which consists of the 10 counties of the Northeast Health District plus Hart and Franklin counties and has nine hospitals with emergency rooms. The largest and dominant hospitals with the vast majority of the beds are the two in Clarke County.

State Data

The Department of Public Health listed 68 deaths from COVID-19 in the Tuesday Daily Status Report, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths from the disease increased to 30.6 from 26.7 on Monday.

Thirty-nine of those added deaths were in the last 14 days, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths by date of occurrence doubled on Tuesday from Monday.

The Daily Status Report eliminated two deaths previously recorded, one on Dec. 3 and the other on Nov. 7. One of the newly added deaths occurred on Aug. 22, and another on July 27, according to the data file released with the Tuesday Daily Status Report.

The Daily Status Report added 35 new “probable deaths” from the disease, and the seven-day rolling average of added “probable deaths” dropped to 12.3 on Tuesday from 13.4 on Monday.

The Daily Status Report listed 10,312 new cases of COVID-19 across the state, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases increased to 8,877.4 on Tuesday from 8,791.1 on Monday. The rolling average has increased 3.5 times its level on Nov. 10.

Across the state, the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Tuesday that the number of COVID-19 patients (5,286) increased from the day before, the number of ICU beds in use (2,691) increased from the day before, and the number of adult ventilators in use (1,487) decreased from the day before.

Both the number of patients and the number of ICU beds in use are new records.

The Georgia Department of Public Health, on a new web site for vaccine distribution, reported on Tuesday that 110,548 individuals in the state have received the vaccine as of 5:48 p.m. Tuesday, up by 15,941 from Monday. 

The state had received 483,650 doses of the vaccine, up 8,600 from the day before.

The state is not releasing vaccine data at the county level at this point.

The Department of Community Health reported on Tuesday that COVID-19 was present among residents and/or staff of 694 long-term care facilities in the state. That figure had been 698 on Dec. 31, when the last report was issued, and the drop indicates some facilities that previously listed cases mistakenly did not report on Tuesday.

Charts

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 Tuesday.

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