The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 19 COVID-19 patients, up from 13 last Friday.
The number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals had been 19 two weeks ago.
The number of ICU beds in use on Friday was 71, up from 65 a week earlier and 69 two weeks ago, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 26, up from 24 on last Friday but down from 27 two weeks ago.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported two new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in its report on Wednesday. It had reported six new confirmed deaths last week.
The Department of Public Health also reported four new “probable” deaths from COVID-19 in Wednesday’s report.
The Georgia Department of Public Health also reported that the Northeast Health District added 171 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Nov. 16, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
That number of added cases on Nov. 9 was 165.
The Georgia Department of Public Health’s 10-county Northeast Health District includes Oconee and Clarke counties. The other counties are Barrow, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Madison, Morgan, Oglethorpe, and Walton.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed the classification of the Transmission Rate for Oconee County from last week from High to Moderate, while that rate in Clarke County remained Moderate.
The CDC continues to rate the Influenza Activity Level for Georgia as Very High, and it reports that the percent of Antigen tests for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) that is positive was down slightly from a week earlier while the percent of PCR tests for RSV that is positive was up.
The CDC is not reporting county level data for Influenze or RSV.
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.
 |
| Click To Enlarge |
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 Nov. 16 in the Northeast Health District was 24.4, compared with 23.6 on Nov. 9.
Oconee County added 11 cases in the seven days ending on Wednesday. The county added 12 cases in the seven days ending on Nov. 9.
Clarke County added 40 new cases in the seven days ending on Nov. 16. It had added 26 cases in the week ending on Nov. 9.
The unstandardized rolling average of added cases in Oconee County on Nov. 16 was 1.6. It had been 1.4 on Nov. 9.
The unstandardized seven-day rolling average of added cases in Clarke County on Nov. 16 was 6.4. It had been 4.3 on Nov. 9.
Deaths
The two new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 were in Oglethorpe and Walton counties.
The Department of Public Health either eliminated or reassigned a confirmed death from COVID-19 previously reported in Barrow County.
The Northeast Health District now has recorded 1,688 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District since February of 2020, or 318.4 deaths per 100,000 population.
The Northeast Health District reported 187 “probable” deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, up from 183 last Wednesday.
Jackson County added one “probable” death from COVID-19, and Walton County added three.
The Department of Public Health does not provide any details about “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.”
 |
| Click To Enlarge |
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.
 |
| Click To Enlarge |
The Centers for Disease Control and prevention rates the Transmission Rate of COVID-19 in Oconee County and Clarke County as Moderate, 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 had been High in terms of Community Transmission, and Clarke County had been rated as Moderate.
The CDC now lists 24 out of the state’s 159 counties as having a High Transmission Rate.
That number was 21 last week, but not all of the counties rated High are the same as a week ago.
The CDC scale is High (Red), Substantial (Orange), Moderate (Yellow), or Low (Blue).
Neither the CDC more the Georgia Department of Public Health releases county-level data on influenza rates.
The state-wide Influenza Activity Level for Georgia for the week ending on Nov. 12, the most recent rating, lists the level of activity in Georgia as 12, or Very High.
The highest level is 13. The rating last week was 13.
The CDC reports the three-week rolling average of the percent of antigen and PRC detections for RSV in the state.
For the week ending on Nov. 12, the rate was 3.4 (Antigen) and 6.2 (PCR)
On Nov. 5, those rates had been 3.6 (Antigen) and 5.4 (PCR).
No comments:
Post a Comment