Republican Candidates Carry Oconee County In Runoff Election, But Democrats Gained Ground From November

***Turnout Was High, But Off From November***

Republican U.S. Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler won Oconee County in unofficial but complete election returns Tuesday, but the percentage of the votes the two received were less than a point higher than the percentages their party candidates received in November.

In contrast, Democrat Jon Ossoff increased his percent of the Oconee County vote in the race with Perdue from 29.7 to 31.1, and Democrat Raphael Warnock in the race with Loeffler received 31.8 percent of the vote on Tuesday compared with the 30.2 percent figure for all Democrats in the special election on Nov. 3.

Area Hospitals Report Record Number of COVID-19 Patients; Rolling Average Of Added COVID-19 Cases Increase In Health District

***No New Deaths From Disease Reported***

The Northeast Health District added only 238 new cases of COVID-19 with the release of the Daily Status Report of the Department of Public Health on Monday, but the seven-day rolling average of added cases increased from Sunday.

Oconee County added 18 cases, and Clarke County added 44, and in both counties the seven-day rolling average of added cases increased.

Monday’s are usually light reporting days, and the number of cases added on Monday was larger than the number added on Monday a week ago.

Parent Asks Board Of Education To Address Her Concerns About School Policies Regarding COVID-19

***Speaking To Board And In Email***

Andrea Wellnitz is persistent.

“I’m coming before you today for the fourth time to bring my concerns to you,” Wellnitz said as she began her comments as a registered speaker to the Board of Education at its final meeting of last year.

Wellnitz said she had a number of concerns and had made a number of requests, including that the Board, Superintendent Jason Branch, or other administrators tell her what the “threshold” is for deciding to move from in-person instruction to hybrid instruction or full remote learning in light of the increase in COVID-19 cases.

Rolling Averages Of Added COVID-19 Cases Increase In Oconee And Clarke Counties And In Northeast Health District

***Oconee Averaging Nearly 50 New Cases Per Day***

The seven-day rolling averages of added COVID-19 cases increased in Oconee and Clarke counties on Sunday and in the Northeast Health District as a whole with the release of the Daily Status Report by the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Oconee County added 39 cases, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases increased to 49.6, the highest average to date. The average had been 46.4 on Saturday.

Clarke County added 97 cases, and the seven-day rolling average increased from 84.1 on Saturday to 93.1 on Sunday. The 93.1 figure is a new high for Clarke County as well.

Northeast Health District Adds 474 New COVID-19 Cases, Two Deaths From Disease; Area Hospitals See Large Increase In COVID Patients

***Seven-Day Rolling Averages Of Added Cases Increase***

The Northeast Health District added 474 new cases of COVID-19 with the release of the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Saturday and two deaths from the disease–in Oconee and Jackson counties.

The Oconee County death was of a male of unspecified age without a known chronic condition.

The death brings to 41 the number from the disease in the county and puts the county’s death rate at 98.2 per 100,000 population, the third highest in the 10-county Northeast Health District, behind only much smaller (in terms of population) Greene and Elbert counties.

Early Voting Strong In Oconee County For Tuesday Runoff, But Not At Level Of November

***Votes Cast At End Of Early Voting More than 1,500 Behind November***

Nearly six in 10 of Oconee County’s active voters already had cast a ballot in the Jan. 5 runoff elections at the end of early voting on Thursday.

In the 12 days of early voting itself, 13,477 voters had gone to the Civic Center to select candidates in the two U.S. Senate runoff races and the state Public Service Commission runoff.

In addition, 4,040 had returned an absentee ballot, for a total of 17,517 votes cast, or 57.4 percent of the county’s 30,542 active voters or 54.8 percent of the county’s 31,985 registered voters.

Seven-Day Rolling Average Of Added COVID-19 Cases In Northeast Health District Increases Again On Friday

***Area Hospitals Report Increases In COVID-19 Cases and ICU Bed Use***

With the addition of 681 new cases of COVID-19 in state reports on Friday, the seven-day rolling average of added cases in the Northeast Health District increased to 467.0 cases per day, the highest ever recorded.

The average had been 412.6 on Thursday, when 625 new cases were added.

Oconee County added 57 cases and Clarke County added 101. The seven-day rolling average of added cases in Oconee County increased from 40.0 on Thursday to 45.1 on Friday, the highest level ever recorded.