Thursday, January 21, 2021

Oconee County Reports Two New COVID-19 Deaths As Northeast Health District Reports Record 13 Confirmed Deaths From Disease

***Two Additional Deaths In Long-Term Care Homes***

The Northeast Health District added 13 confirmed COVID-19 deaths–a new record–with the release of the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Thursday as well as 547 new cases of the disease.

The Department of Community Health reported two additional deaths in the Northeast Health District in its Long-Term Care Facility Report on Thursday.

Two of the confirmed deaths in the Daily Status Report were in Oconee County, which also had a confirmed death in the Wednesday Report, and the county now has 45 confirmed deaths from COVID-19.

The seven-day rolling average of added confirmed deaths in the Northeast Health District increased to 7.3 on Thursday from 7.0 on Wednesday.

The seven-day rolling average of added cases increased to 450.0 on Thursday from 443.3 on Wednesday. This was the first increase in the rolling average of added cases after a week of declines.

Details On Deaths

The Oconee County deaths were of 43-year-old female without a chronic condition and of a 78-year-old male, also without a chronic condition.

Barrow County had a death of 74-year-old male with a chronic condition, and Elbert County listed a death of a 41-year-old male with a chronic condition and of an 88-year-old male without a chronic condition.

Jackson County had four deaths in the Daily Status Report: of a 20-year-old female without a known chronic condition, of a 64-year-old male without a chronic condition, of a 74-year-old male with a chronic condition, and of an 83-year-old female without a chronic condition.

Madison County had two confirmed deaths: a 73-year-old female without a chronic condition and an 85-year-old female, also without a chronic condition.

Walton County reported the death of a 73-year-old female without a chronic condition and of an 88-year-old male without a chronic condition.

The two deaths in the Department of Community Health Long-Term Care Facility Report were both were at The Glen at Lake Oconee Village, a personal care home in Greene County. The Department of Community Health does not list characteristics of the deceased.

The Department of Public Health distributes the Department of Community Health Report, but it does not consider the deaths in the Department of Community Health Report as confirmed. The Department of Public Health requires that confirmed deaths be reported through its electronic system by designated filers.

The Daily Status Report on Thursday also listed a “probable death” from COVID-19 in Madison County.

Cases, Hospital Report

The Northeast Health District deviated from the trends in state as a whole on Thursday. The state reported the eighth day of declining new cases and also a drop in the seven-day rolling average of added deaths.

The Northeast Health District’s seven-day-rolling average of 450.0 added cases was up from Wednesday but still much below the peak of 602.0 on Jan. 13.

Oconee County added 25 new cases of COVID-19, and Clarke County added 94. The seven-day rolling average of added cases in Oconee County dropped from 31.3 on Wednesday to 29.9 on Thursday, and the rolling average in Clarke County dropped from 82.6 to 80.3.

The Department of Community Health Long-Term Care Facility listed five new staff cases of COVID-19 at the 40 long-term care facilities in the Northeast Health District.

One of those new staff cases was at St. Mary’s Highland Hills Village, 1660 Jennings Mill Road, in Oconee County, and three were at PruittHealth Athens Heritage in Clarke County.

The fifth case was at The Glen at Lake Oconee Village in Greene County.

Oconee County Schools have informed parents of new positive tests for COVID-19 by “an individual” at Dove Creek Elementary School and "an individual" at Oconee County High School. The Dove Creek announcement was late on Wednesday, and the Oconee County High School announcement was on Thursday.

The schools have reported at least 18 new cases since the report of a record number of 40 Active Cases on Friday.

The University of Georgia posted its COVID-19 Health and Exposure Update on Thursday showing 156 positive COVID-19 tests locally, compared with 161 a week ago, and a total of 261 positive tests across the system, compared with 310 a week ago.

The University also reported that its drop-in testing at Legion Field for those without symptoms had a positivity rate of 3.1 percent, compared with 3.9 percent a week ago. The number of tests at Legion Field was 2,902 compared with 2,464 a week earlier.

The data released on Thursday are for the dates of Jan. 11 to 17.

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Thursday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (258) increased by three from the day before, the number of ICU beds in use (84) decreased by two from the day before, and the number of adult ventilators in use (56) increased by three from the day before.

The number of COVID-19 patients had decreased four days in a row before the increase reported on Thursday.

State Data

With the addition of 105 deaths in the Thursday Daily Status Report, the seven-day rolling average of added deaths declined to 114.7 from 120.0 on Wednesday. Prior to the Thursday Report, the seven-day rolling average had increased 10 days in a row.

Forty-nine of the added deaths occurred in the last 14 days, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths based on date of occurrence increased Thursday. That average has increased each of the last three days.

The Department of Public Health purged five deaths previously listed as caused by COVID-19, one of them as far back as April 23.

The Department of Public Health also in Thursday’s Report listed 11 “probable deaths” from COVID-19, and the seven-day rolling average of added “probable deaths” decreased to 17.7 from 20.6 on Wednesday.

The Northeast Health District added 8,429 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, and the seven-day rolling average dropped to 7,915.6 from 8,043.1. The rolling average has dropped eight days since the average of 10,016.4 on Jan. 13.

Across the state, the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Thursday that the number of COVID-19 patients (5,332) decreased from the day before, the number of ICU beds in use (2,745) decreased from the day before, and the number of adult ventilators in use (1,642) increased from the day before.

The Department of Public Health reported adding 55,518 new COVID-19 vaccinations on Thursday, up from 51,145 on Wednesday, and the total number of persons vaccinated in the state is now 591,438, or 5.5 percent of the state’s population.

The state has been allocated 1,131,425 doses of the vaccine, and almost all of the allocated doses (1,125,425) have now been shipped.

The 591,438 administered doses represents just more than half (52.6 percent) of the doses shipped.

Across the state, the Department of Community Health reported on Thursday that COVID-19 was present among residents and/or staff of 715 facilities, up from 713 on Wednesday.

Charts

Chart 1 below shows the seven-day rolling average of the addition of COVID-19 molecular and antigen cases combined for the Northeast Health District and for the state of Georgia since Nov. 3, when the state first began reporting antigen test results.

Chart 2 plots the number of added deaths in the Northeast Health District going back to March as well as the seven-day rolling average of added deaths.

Chart 3 plots those same data for the state of Georgia.

The data in the charts come from the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report and have been updated for the 2:50 p.m. Report on Thursday.

Click on any of the charts to enlarge it.

Chart 1
Chart 2
Chart 3

 

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