The Northeast Health District added 85 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, pushing up the seven-day rolling average of added cases. The rolling average of added confirmed deaths from the disease dropped with the addition of two deaths.
One of the added confirmed deaths was in Oconee County, which also had recorded a confirmed death on Sunday.
The Oconee County death was of a 69-year-old female without a chronic condition and brings to 62 the number of deaths in the county from the disease since the first was recorded in May of last year.
The Department of Public Health recorded the date of death added on Wednesday as Jan. 30, 2021.
The Department of Community Health on Tuesday reported the deaths of two residents at The Landing personal care home on U.S. 78 in the west of Oconee County, but those deaths occurred on Sept. 12, 2020, and Feb. 25, 2021, the administrator of the facility said on Wednesday.
The other confirmed death recorded in the Wednesday Department of Public Health Daily Status Report was of an 89-year-old female in Walton County without a chronic condition.
The Walton County death is the 226th in that county since the beginning of the pandemic.
The total number of confirmed deaths in the 10-county Northeast Health District now is 871, and the seven-day rolling average of added confirmed deaths dropped to 3.6 on Wednesday from 4.4 on Tuesday.
The District had added eight deaths on Wednesday of last week.
Cases, Hospital Report, Vaccines
The addition of the 85 new cases of COVID-19 in the Wednesday Daily Status Report resulted in an increase in the seven-day rolling average of added cases to 66.4 on Wednesday from 64.6 on Tuesday.
Oconee County added four cases and Clarke County added 18.
The seven-day rolling average of added cases dropped to 4.3 on Wednesday from 4.6 on Tuesday in Oconee County. In Clarke County, the rolling average increased to 10.9 from 10.4 on Tuesday.
The University of Georgia, in Wednesday’s COVID-19 Health and Exposure Update, reported 19 local positive COVID-19 tests and 33 across the system. Those numbers had been 22 and 32 a week earlier.
The University also reported a positivity rate of 0.9, up from 0.8 the week before, from drop-in tests at Legion Field for persons without symptoms. The number of tests was 1,005, down from 1,143 a week earlier.
The Department of Community Health did not upload a Long-Term Care Facility Report on Wednesday and did not offer any explanation.
The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Wednesday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (50) decreased by three from the day before, the number of ICU beds in use (52) decreased by eight from the day before, and the number of adult ventilators in use (28) was the same as the day before.
The Vaccine Distribution Dashboard of the Department of Public Health has not functioned since Sunday of last week. The Department of Public Health cites “ongoing system and data transfer issues” as the explanation.
No county-level data are being reported.
Diane Baggett, communications manager for Oconee County, confirmed on Wednesday that the county will participate in a mass vaccine effort on Saturday, April 17, at the Civic Center, 2661 Hog Mountain Road, west of Butler’s Crossing.
The second dose will be administered on Saturday, May 8, also at the Civic Center, Baggett said.
A sign-up link on the county web site will be available next week for individuals to register for the event, she said, and more details will be available next week.
Watkinsville Acting Mayor Brian Brodrick announced plans for the mass vaccination on his Facebook page last week. The City of Watkinsville is a partner in the event.
The Landing
Jennifer Flowers, chief operating officer of The Landing, 2881 Monroe Highway (U.S. 78), contacted me via email on Wednesday afternoon to explain the entries for The Landing that appeared in the Tuesday Department of Community Health Long-Term Care Facility Report.
That Report was the first in which The Landing was listed, and it showed the personal care home with two COVID-19 deaths, seven resident cases of the disease, and 16 staff cases.
The Report also listed 31 residents and 31 residents who had been tested for the disease.
When I reported on the listing on Tuesday, I noted that the figures were cumulative, but I also indicated that I did not know why The Landing only appeared for the first time in The Long-Term Care Facility Report.
Flowers said that The Landing opened on May 12 of last year and that “newly licensed facilities in Georgia were unable to self-report” using the electronic system.
Flowers said she reported COVID-19 data via email to the Department of Communication Health “as cases presented among our residents or staff,” but these data did not appear in the Long-Term Care Facility Report until Tuesday.
“I am happy to report that we have 100 percent vaccine compliance among all residents who are either fully vaccinated or scheduled to get their vaccines/booster next week,” Flowers wrote. “We have 54 percent employee vaccine compliance, and we continue to educate and encourage our staff to obtain the vaccine.”
Flowers provided me the September and February dates for the two deaths that she said she reported to the Department of Community Health at the time they occurred but that appeared only in the Long-Term Care Facility Report on Tuesday.
State Data
The Daily Status Report added 76 confirmed COVID-19 deaths across the state on Wednesday, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths increased slightly to 51.6 from to 51.4 on Tuesday.
Nineteen of the added deaths occurred in the last 14 days, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths dated by day of the death increased just slightly from Tuesday.
The Department of Public Health eliminated two deaths previously recorded as attributed to COVID-19.
The Department of Public Health removed six “probable” deaths from COVID-19 in Wednesday’s Daily Status Report, and the seven-day rolling average of added “probable” deaths was 6.4, down from 7.6 on Tuesday.
Across the state, the Department of Public Health added 2,007 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases increased to 1,576.6 from 1,485.7 on Tuesday.
The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Wednesday that the number of COVID-19 patients (1,204) at the state’s hospitals decreased from the day before, the number of ICU beds in use (2,330) increased from the day before, and the number of adult ventilators in use (1,005) decreased from the day before.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday that 12.3 percent of the Georgia’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 16.0 percent of those 18 years old and older are fully vaccinated, up from 12.1 and 15.8 on Tuesday.
Charts
The charts below show 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.
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 Wednesday.
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