Saturday, October 15, 2022

COVID-19 Cases At Area Hospitals At 14–Unchanged From Last Week

***Oconee Transmission Rate Drops to Moderate***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 14 COVID-19 patients, the same number as a week earlier.

The number of ICU beds in use on Friday was 74, up from 72 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 26, down from 28 on last Friday.

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported no new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in its report on Wednesday, down from five reported a week earlier.

The Georgia Department of Public Health also reported that the Northeast Health District added 153 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Oct. 12, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.

That number of added cases on Wednesday was down from 181 added on Sept. Oct. 5.

The Northeast Health District includes Oconee and Clarke counties. The other counties are Barrow, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Madison, Morgan, Oglethorpe, and Walton.

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, ending on a Wednesday.

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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.

The average number of added cases per day in the last seven days ending on Oct. 12 in the Northeast Health District was 21.9. compared with 25.9 on Oct. 5.

Oconee County added six cases in the seven days ending on Wednesday. The county added 14 cases in the seven days ending on Oct. 5.

Clarke County added 43 new cases in the seven days ending on Oct. 12. It had added that same number of cases in the week ending on Oct. 5.

The unstandardized rolling average of added cases in Oconee County on Oct. 12 was 1.4. It had been 3.0 on Oct. 5.

The unstandardized seven-day rolling average of added cases in Clarke County on Oct. 12 was 5.7, the same number as on Oct. 5.

Deaths

The Northeast Health District reported 183 “probable” deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, up from 182 last week.

The new reported “probable” death from COVID-19 was in Barrow County.

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.

Neither Oconee County Schools nor the University of Georgia is any longer reporting COVID-19 cases.

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The Centers for Disease Control and prevention rates the Transmission Rate of COVID-19 in Oconee County as Moderate and Clark County 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 are positive during the last seven days, ending on Thursday.

Last week, Oconee County was rated as High and Clarke County was rated as Moderate.

The CDC now lists only 23 out of the state’s 159 counties as having a High transmission rate.

That number has dropped from 141 out of 159 on Sept. 9.

The CDC scale is High (Red), Substantial (Orange), Moderate (Yellow), or Low (Blue).

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