The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 29 COVID-19 patients, just more than double the 14 reported on Friday of last week.
The number of ICU beds in use was 61, down from 63 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 27, up from 23 a week ago.
In its weekly COVID-19 report, the Georgia Department of Public Health announced that the number of new COVID-19 cases tallied in its electronic tracking system in the Northeast Health District in the week ending on June 22 was 696.
The 10-county District had added 602 cases in the week ending on June 15.
The Department of Public Heath Report on Wednesday added three new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in the last week.
It also added one “unconfirmed” death from the disease, and that death was in Oconee County.
The Northeast Health District includes Oconee and Clarke counties.
Weekly Report
Although the Department of Public Health is releasing a report only weekly, it is gathering data on a daily basis, and the weekly report includes a data file containing case counts each day.
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The Department of Public Health switched to weekly, rather than daily, case counts on April 20 in part because of a concern that its numbers under-represent the actual number of cases.
At home test results are not included in the electronic reporting system.
If the undercount is consistent week-to-week, however, the trends across time would track changes in the occurrence of COVID-19 in the 10-county Northeast Health District as well as in the state.
The average number of added cases per day in the last seven days ending on Wednesday in the Northeast Health District was 99.4, compared with 86.0 in the seven days ending on June 15.
That average has increased slightly each week since May 4.
Oconee County added 61 cases in the seven days ending on Wednesday. The county added 49 cases in the seven days ending on June 15.
Clarke County added 193 new cases in the seven days ending on June 22. It had added 194 new cases in the week ending on June 15.
The unstandardized rolling average of added cases in Oconee County on Wednesday was 8.1. It had been 7.0 on June 15.
In Clarke County, the unstandardized seven-day rolling average of added cases on Wednesday was 30.9, compared with 27.9 on June 15.
The three added confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District were in Barrow, Jackson, and Madison counties.
The Department of Public Health also removed, possibly to reassign to other counties, three deaths in Walton County.
As a result, the total number of confirmed deaths in the Northeast Health District since the onset of the pandemic in February of 2020 remained unchanged at 1,593.
The Department of Public Health listed 163 “probable” deaths from COVID-19 with the addition of the death in Oconee County.
The Department of Public Health does not provide any details on the “probable” deaths.
Focus On Hospital Reports
In its announcement on April 14, the Georgia Department of Public Health said “Given the number of at-home COVID tests that do not get reported, there is now a greater focus on other indicators.”
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The announcement directed attention to the data released by the Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
The hospital data available for the area includes the 10 counties in the Northeast Health District plus Hart and Franklin counties. The data are dominated by St. Mary’s and Piedmont Regional in Athens-Clarke County.
The 29 cases at area hospitals is the highest it has been since March of this year.
The University of Georgia has discontinued issuance of its COVID-19 Health and Exposure Updates.
Oconee County Schools is not in session and does not issue its weekly COVID-19 update during the summer.
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