Saturday, November 05, 2022

Number Of COVID Patients At Area Hospitals Increases; Deaths From Disease In Northeast Health District Also Up

***Case Count In NE Health District Up Slightly***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 19 COVID-19 patients, up from 11 last Friday.

The number of ICU beds in use on Friday was 69, down from 72 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 27, down from 32 on last Friday.

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported five new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in its report on Wednesday. It had reported two new confirmed deaths last week.

The Georgia Department of Public Health also reported that the Northeast Health District added 168 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Nov. 2, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.

That number of added cases on Oct. 26 was 146.

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 Nov. 2 in the Northeast Health District was 24.0, compared with 20.9 on Oct. 26.

Oconee County added 17 cases in the seven days ending on Wednesday. The county added 21 cases in the seven days ending on Oct. 26.

Clarke County added 74 new cases in the seven days ending on Nov. 2. It had added 37 cases in the week ending on Oct. 26.

The unstandardized rolling average of added cases in Oconee County on Nov. 2 was 2.6. It had been 2.3 on Oct. 26.

The unstandardized seven-day rolling average of added cases in Clarke County on Nov. 2 was 5.7. It had been 5.3 on Oct. 26.

Deaths

The five new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 reported on Wednesday by the Department of Public Health were in Barrow County (1), Jackson County (2), and Walton County (2).

The Northeast Health District now has recorded 1,681 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District since February of 2020, or 317.1 deaths per 100,000 population.

The Northeast Health District reported 183 “probable” deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, the same number as a week earlier.

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 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 Substantial in terms of Community Transmission, and Clarke County had been rated as Moderate.

The CDC now lists 21 out of the state’s 159 counties as having a High transmission rate.

That number has increased from 20 last week.

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 Oct. 29, the most recent rating, lists the level of activity in Georgia as 12, or Very High.

The highest level is 13.

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