The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 33 COVID-19 patients, the same number as on Friday of last week.
The number of ICU beds in use was 70, down from 72 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 26, down from 29 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 20 was 1,109.
The 10-county District had added 1,041 cases in the week ending on July 13.
The Department of Public Heath Report on Wednesday added three confirmed deaths from COVID-19.
One of those deaths was in Clarke County.
The Northeast Health District did not add any new “probable” death from COVID-19 in the week ending on Wednesday.
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 should 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 158.4, compared with 148.7 in the seven days ending on July 13.
That average has increased, if slightly, each week since May 4.
Oconee County added 56 cases in the seven days ending on Wednesday. The county added 50 cases in the seven days ending on July 13.
Clarke County added 264 new cases in the seven days ending on July 20. It had added 266 new cases in the week ending on July 13.
The unstandardized rolling average of added cases in Oconee County on Wednesday was 7.9. It had been 6.1 on July 13.
In Clarke County, the unstandardized seven-day rolling average of added cases on Wednesday was 36.4, compared with 39.4 on July 13.
Deaths
The Clarke County death was of a 58-year-old male without a chronic condition. The death brings to 226 the number of confirmed death from COVID-19 in the county since the onset of the pandemic in February of 2020.
That represents 175.6 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 Elbert and Jackson counties.
The 10-county Northeast Health District now has 1,604 confirmed COVID-19 deaths since February of 2020, or 302.6 per 100,000 population.
The Northeast Health District also has 171 “probable” deaths from COVID-19.
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.
The Centers for Disease Control and prevention classifies the Transmission Rate of COVID-19 in Oconee and Clarke counties as high, based on total number of new cases per 100,000 population in the last seven days and the percentage of Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests that positive during the last seven days, ending on Thursday.
All but two counties in the state of Georgia are rated as High Transmission.
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