Friday, July 15, 2022

Area Hospitals Report Slight Drop In COVID Cases; Count In NE Health District Increases

***Clarke County Reports Confirmed Death From Disease***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 33 COVID-19 patients, down from 35 on Friday of last week.

The number of ICU beds in use was 72, up by one from 71 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 29, down from 30 a week ago.

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the number of new recorded COVID-19 cases in the Northeast Health District tallied by the electronic tracking system in the week ending on July 13 was 1,041.

The 10-county District had added 812 cases in the week ending on July 6.

The Department of Public Heath Report on Wednesday added three confirmed deaths from COVID-19, and the total number of confirmed deaths from the disease in the 10-county District going back to February of 2020 was 1,601.

One of those new deaths was in Clarke County.

The Northeast Health District also added three “probable” death from COVID-19, including one in Clarke 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 in April in part because of a concern that its counts 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 148.7, compared with 116.0 in the seven days ending on July 6.

That average has increased each week since May 4.

Oconee County added 50 cases in the seven days ending on Wednesday. The county added 60 cases in the seven days ending on July 6.

Clarke County added 266 new cases in the seven days ending on July 13. It had added 197 new cases in the week ending on July 6.

The unstandardized rolling average of added cases in Oconee County on Wednesday was 6.1. It had been 8.9 on July 6.

In Clarke County, the unstandardized seven-day rolling average of added cases on Wednesday was 39.1, compared with 28.0 on July 6.

Deaths

The Clarke County death was of an 85-year-old male without a chronic condition. The death brings to 225 the number of confirmed death from COVID-19 in the county since the onset of the pandemic in February of 2020.

That represents 174.9 deaths per 100,000 population in Clarke County, the lowest rate of any of the 10 counties in the Northeast Health District.

The other two confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Wednesday Department of Public Health Report were in Barrow and Walton Counties.

The 10-county Northeast Health District now has 1,601 confirmed COVID-19 deaths since February of 2020, or 302.0 per 100,000 population.

The other two “probable” deaths from COVID-19 were in Jackson and Walton counties. 

The Northeast Health District now has 171 “probable” deaths from COVID-19. The Clarke County “probable” deaths brings to 14 the number in the county.

The Department of Public Health does not provide any details of “probable” deaths from the disease. 

Focus On Hospital Reports

In its announcement in April, 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 include 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 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.

Classes resume on Aug. 3.

3 comments:

andrewscd said...

I think that it would be pertinent to also report on the CDC county Covid transmission levels for the area. I don't know about all the counties, but Clarke County is at high transmission and Oconee County is medium.
Carolyn Andrews

andrewscd said...

I just checked the CDC Covid transmission rates for all of the Counties in the NE Ga Health District. 5 of the counties have high Covid transmission: Barrow, Green, Jackson, Clarke, and Walton. The remaining counties have medium Covid transmission.
Carolyn Andrews

Lee Becker said...

Thank you, Carolyn.
Lee