Northeast Health District Added 303 New COVID-19 Cases And Two Confirmed Deaths From Disease In Last Week

***Slight Increases In Vaccination Rates Reported***

The 10-county Northeast Health District added 303 new cases of COVID-19 in the last seven days ending on Friday, or an average of 43.3 cases per day, and only two confirmed deaths attributed to the disease.

In the week ending on Friday of last week, the District had added 371 cases, or an average of 53.0 cases per day, and eight confirmed deaths attributed to COVID-19.

Oconee County added 15 COVID-19 cases in the week ending on Friday, while Clarke County added 61. The seven-day rolling average of added cases was 2.1 in Oconee County and 8.7 in Clarke County.

In the week ending on April 20, Oconee County added 22 COVID-19 cases, and Clarke County added 66. The seven-day average of added cases in Oconee County was 3.1. In Clarke County that average was 9.4.

Both of the confirmed deaths in the Northeast Health District this past week were in Walton County.

These data are based on the Friday Daily Status Report of the Department of Public Health.

Long-Term Care Facilities, Oconee Schools, University Reports

The Department of Community Health, in its Long-Term Care Facility Report on Friday, listed one additional case of COVID-19 among staff of the 44 facilities in the Northeast Health District covered by the Report.

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The newly added staff case of COVID-19 was at Madison Health and Rehabilitation Nursing Home in Morgan County.

This is based on a comparison of the Department of Community Health Report on Friday with the one it issued on April 30.

Oconee County Schools on Friday, in its COVID-19 Status Report, listed two Active COVID-19 cases and 15 Active Quarantines Due to Close Contact.

Last Friday, Oconee County Schools also reported two Active COVID-19 cases and reported 17 individuals in Active Quarantine.

Oconee County Schools does not provide any additional information on cases or quarantines at the schools, but it does inform parents of students at the schools when a case has been detected.

At 7:31 p.m. on May 4, Oconee County High School Principal Kevin Yancey told parents of students at that school that “an individual” had tested positive for COVID-19.

Yancey also had reported one of the two cases last week.

The University of Georgia on Wednesday, in its COVID-19 Health and Exposure Update, listed a total of 18 positive COVID-19 tests, up from 15 a week earlier, with 12 of those positive tests having been recorded locally, compared with eight a week earlier.

The University also reported that 393 individuals were tested at the walk-in Legion Field site, down from 576 a week earlier, and that the positivity rate for those volunteer tests increased to 1.5 from 1.0 the week before.

Hospital, Vaccine Updates

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals was 29, the number of ICU beds in use was 60, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 27.

On last Friday, the number of COVID-19 patients was 33, the number of ICU beds in use was 62, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 27.

According to the Department of Public Health Vaccine Distribution Dashboard for Friday, 28.4 percent of the residents of the Northeast Health District had at least one dose of a vaccine on Friday and 23.2 percent were fully vaccinated.

Last week, those figures were 27.7 with at least one dose and 21.8 fully vaccinated.

In the 10-county Northeast Health District, Oconee County has the highest rate of residents with at least one dose (40.0 percent) and the highest percentage fully vaccinated (33.8 percent).

Clarke County has 32.2 percent of its residents with at least one dose and 26.9 percent fully vaccinated.

A week ago, Oconee County also was at the top of the District, with 39.4 percent of its residents with at least one dose and 32.2 percent fully vaccinated.

A week ago, 31.7 percent of Clarke County’s residents had at least one dose of the vaccines and 25.4 percent were fully vaccinated.

These percentages are different from those shown on the Vaccine Distribution Dashboard.

I have used the population estimates used by the Department of Public Health in the Daily Status Report rather than the lower population estimates that the Department of Public Health uses in the Vaccine Distribution Dashboard.